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"Vats of Goo"
Broken Hills is a mining town, uranium mostly. It can be a rough place, so watch yourself.John Cassidy

Broken Hills is a location in New California in Fallout 2. Before the Great War, it was a mining town, but has since become a safehaven, inhabited by humans, super mutants and ghouls, living together in relative harmony, led by Marcus. However, in 2241, this peace is threatened by a conspiracy aiming to destroy the mutants, leading to the involvement of the Chosen One.

Background[]

Shortly after the Master's defeat, a super mutant named Marcus wandered aimlessly until he encountered Jacob, a Brotherhood of Steel knight in powered armor who had pledged himself to the extermination of all mutants. Marcus and Jacob fought for a period of time, but soon realized the futility of their battle.[1] They became friends, even though Marcus still thought that Jacob would have been improved by a dip in the FEV vats.[2] As they wandered through the wastes, they attracted a small following of war refugees. The refugees believed that Marcus's strength and Jacob's power armor offered them a certain level of protection from the hazardous wasteland. Eventually, Marcus and Jacob led the refugees to settle in Broken Hills to exploit the uranium mine there.[1]

The mine in Broken Hills provides all the uranium that Vault City and Gecko need for their atomic power plants. The ghouls and mutants that live and work in Broken Hills make ideal uranium miners since they are not affected by exposure to radiation in the mine. Since Vault City will deal only with humans, the miners must use human traders as their intermediaries. These traders charge the miners excessive commission for their work. Tensions in this multiracial community over time have greatly increased and the human merchants have been accused of outright theft.[Non-game 1]

At some point after 2241,[Non-game 2] the Chosen One puts an end to the conspiracy to destroy the mutants, and Broken Hills began to thrive for a time, until the uranium ran out. Without the income from the mine, the town slowly dispersed, leaving the place an empty ghost town.[3][4]

Location[]

Broken Hills can be found twenty squares east and fifteen squares south of Arroyo.

Layout[]

The Broken Hills uranium mine is worked by the town's super mutant population. The radiation in the mine has minimal effect on them and their great strength aids in the physically taxing labor. The mine does require an air purifier, however, as toxic gas build-up makes the mine inoperable unless it is regularly filtered. The town's lifeblood comes from the uranium mine.

Broken Hills has its own operational refinery operated by ghouls. If uranium ore is purchased from a caravan, the refinery will produce refined uranium in return. The town is powered by a small reactor that runs off of uranium slugs and produces ample power for the community. The uranium trade runs to the NCR and Vault City as well as trafficking brahmin herds across the wastes. The uranium trade is so important to so many towns' existence that even Vault City will check their unrelenting bigotry for outsiders and mutants and trade valuable medical supplies and money for uranium ore. Ever since the mine's air purifier broke down, uranium production has halted, leading to an economic crisis in Broken Hills.

Random encounters in the Broken Hills area feature Unity patrols of humans, ghouls, and mutants which are friendly to player characters with positive karma.

Broken Hills mine
Broken Hills Downtown Broken Hills Residential
Broken Hills underground

Downtown[]

FO2 BrokenHills Downtown
Main article: Broken Hills Downtown

If anything, Micky's presence well indicates a broken Broken Hills economy. Ghouls operate the uranium plant which is located downtown. Marcus can be found in front of the jail, and player characters in need of work can visit the caravan office, operated by Bill. Liz runs the general store in town.

Residential[]

Fo2 Broken Hills Residential

Broken Hills offers a resort-like setting for unprejudiced, mutated, and motivated individuals looking to make a fortune mining for uranium. Once threatening, dangerous mutated cacti from the wastes have been placed into pens to make attractive lawn-spaces along the length of the main street. The residential area houses ghouls and super mutants, as well as one scientist, his chess-playing radscorpion, and a talking spore plant.

Mine[]

Broken Hills mine

Outside area

Broken Hills underground

The mine itself

Main article: Broken Hills mine

The Broken Hills uranium mine is worked by the town's super mutant population. The radiation in the mine has minimal effect on them and their great strength aids in the physically taxing labor. The mine does require an air purifier, however, as toxic gas build-up makes the mine inoperable unless it is regularly filtered. The town's lifeblood comes from the uranium mine.

Underground[]

FO2 Broken Hills underground

The labyrinth-like underground.

The underground is a base home to rats, but super mutants, such as Francis, claim to have seen people in the underground. The Chosen One discovers that many people died here due to their own super mutant prejudice by completing the quest Find the missing people for Marcus.

Conflict[]

It's not always easy for humans, ghouls, and super mutants to live together. This has culminated in a conspiracy to rid Broken Hills of its mutated citizens, led by human purist and store owner Jacob. The conspiracy has resulted in the arrest and incarceration of several of Joseph's supporters as well as the murder of several civilians. Their bodies have been dumped in the town's caves and sewers in hopes of destabilizing Broken Hills and starting conflict. Jacob also sabotaged the mine's air purifier, temporarily halting mine operation. He ultimately hoped to detonate the purifier and bring the whole mine down on all the super mutants working inside.

In opposition to Jacob are the mutants, mine foreman Zaius, and the arm wrestling champ Francis. There is also a conspiracy on the mutant side, instigated by Francis, which the player discovers upon finding a note on the corpses in the secret tunnel system under Broken Hills. The note proves that the mutants hoped to frame the anti-mutant faction in the town for the deaths of the townspeople.

Inhabitants[]

Downtown[]

Img Name Dialogue file Description Doctor Merchant Repair Companion Clothing Proto Location
FoModel StandardGirl Aileen HcAILEEN.msg Wife of Jacob the Chemist. Wastelander girl clothing 00000061 Broken Hills Downtown
FoModel Peasant Bill HcOUTFIT.msg Caravan master. Citizen outfit 00000060 Broken Hills Downtown
Ghoul2 Brian Hcbrian.msg Ghoul resident. Black ghoul outfit 00000159 Broken Hills Downtown
Npcian Chad HcCHAD.msg Caravan master. Leather jacket 00000034 Broken Hills Downtown
FoModel OldDoc Doc Holliday HcDOC.msg Resident doctor. Yes Doctor outfit Broken Hills Downtown
Super mutant Elmo HCELMO.MSG Super mutant drunkard Super mutant clothing 00000119 Broken Hills Downtown
FoModel Peasant Franc HcFRANK.msg Prisoner Citizen outfit 00000060 Broken Hills Downtown
Super mutant Francis HcFRANCI.msg Super mutant armwrestler Super mutant clothing 00000120 Broken Hills Downtown
Super mutant
Super mutant
Feuding couple HCHUSWIF.MSG A feuding super mutant couple. Super mutant clothing 00000119 Broken Hills Downtown
FoModel Peasant Jacob the Chemist Hcjacob.msg Leader of the anti-mutant conspiracy Citizen outfit 00000060 Broken Hills Downtown
FoModel StandardGirl Liz HcLIZ.msg Proprietor of the general store. Yes Wastelander girl outfit 00000061 Broken Hills Downtown
Ghoul2 Lumpy HCLUMPY.MSG Traveler hit by the Highwayman Black ghoul outfit 00000159 Broken Hills Downtown
Npcian Manson HcMANSON.msg Prisoner. Leather jacket 00000032 Broken Hills Downtown
FoModel Dwarf Micky HCMICKY.MSG Dwarf treasure hunter. Dwarf outfit 00000150 Broken Hills Downtown
Super mutant2 Marcus HcMARCUS.msg Super mutant sheriff of Broken Hills. TH Yes Super mutant leather armor 00000161 Broken Hills Downtown
Ghoul2 Phil HcPHIL.msg Ghoul bartender Yes Black ghoul outfit 00000159 Broken Hills Downtown
Larmors Steve HcSTEVE.msg Town greeter. Leather armor 00000071 Broken Hills Downtown
Naglowaa se Refinery supervisor Hcsuper.msg/
HcRSUPER.msg
Uranium dealer. Yes Glowing ghoul outfit 00000101 Broken Hills Downtown

Residential and mine[]

Img Name Dialogue file Description Doctor Merchant Repair Companion Clothing Proto Location
Npcian Chuck Stodgers Hcchuck.msg Leather jacket 00000034 Broken Hills mine
FoModel NewDoc Professor HcProf.msg Scientist. Scientist outfit 00000088 Broken Hills Residential
FoModel Radscorpion Professor's radscorpion 00000005 Broken Hills Residential
FO2 Plant Seymour Hcseymor.msg Intelligent spore plant. 00000016 Broken Hills Residential
Naglowaa se Typhon Hctyphon.msg Set's son. Black ghoul outfit 00000173 Broken Hills Residential
Super mutant2 Zaius Hczaius.msg Super mutant miner. Super mutant leather armor 00000121 Broken Hills Residential
Commonguy2 Dan Hcdan.msg Worried spouse. Farmer outfit 00000067 Broken Hills Residential
FoModel SkimpyGirl Dan's wife HIDEAD.MSG/
HTCORPSE.MSG
A corpse in Broken Hills underground. Torn women clothing 00000025 Broken Hills underground/
Broken Hills ResidentialMentioned
Ghoul2 Eric Hceric.msg A sweaty ghoul. Black ghoul outfit 00000159 Broken Hills Residential
Unnamed
Bank guard Broken Hills citizen Henchman Mutant miner Refinery supervisor
Mentioned only
JacobMentioned CameronMentioned

Related quests[]

Main article: Broken Hills quests
Name Given by Reward
Alternative 1 Alternative 2 Alternative 3
Fix the mine's air purifier Zaius 1000 XP
$500
1000 XP
Combat shotgun
-
Find the missing people for Marcus Marcus 500-2000 XP
$1000
500-2000 XP
Scoped hunting rifle
+5 Karma
-
Break Manson and Franc out of prison Jacob the Chemist 1500 XP
-5 Karma
Next quest
2500 XP
+20 Karma
-
Blow up the mine's air purifier Jacob the Chemist 1500 XP
-50 Karma
Liz's weapons cache
2500 XP
+20 Karma
-
Divert more electrical power to Eric's home Eric 1000 XP
+10 Karma
1000 XP
Buffout
1000 XP
$150
Beat Francis at armwrestling Francis Ball gag 350 XP
Big Frigger power fist
-
Defeat the professor's radscorpion in three challenges Professor 1500 XP - -
Typhon's Treasure Typhon 2000 XP
Bottle cap
- -
Become an Expert Excrement Expeditor Bill 500 XP
$500
Expert Excrement Expeditor perk
- -

Notes[]

  • Uranium ore can be obtained either from a wandering merchant in a random encounter in the Broken hills area or from the hidden cave to the right of the entrance just inside the uranium mine.
  • Unlike the Den,[5] Broken Hills is still home to cats.[6]

Vault City travel log[]

Broken Hills
  • Broken Hills: A mining community to the south of Vault City that mines uranium ore. The ore is traded to Vault City in exchange for medical supplies, mostly Rad-X and RadAway. Humans are believed to be forced to live with mutants and ghouls within the town. Due to the nature of the inhabitants and the high probability of contamination, Vault Citizens should avoid Broken Hills at ALL costs!
  • Population: No current census, but believed to be in the hundreds of residents.
  • Government: Rumor has it a MUTANT serves as the First Citizen of this community. This is extremely unlikely, as most mutants are incapable of higher reasoning. If this rumor IS true, it is another reason to avoid Broken Hills altogether.
  • Background radiation count: Current readings are unavailable. Believed high.
  • Mutation rate: Believed high. Broken Hills most likely has a high rate of degenerative mutations.Vault City travel log

Appearances[]

Broken Hills appears only in Fallout 2 and is mentioned by Marcus in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes[]

  • Broken Hills is based on the real world location Broken Hills, Nevada, a ghost town with a gold and silver mine of the same name.
  • Broken Hills could also be a reference to Broken Hill, a town in Australia known for its silver, lead and zinc mining, and also the namesake for the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, the largest mining company in the real world. This could be a reference to Mad Max, as The Road Warrior (known as Mad Max 2 in Australia) was shot on location near Broken Hill. This would be yet another in a long line of Mad Max references featured throughout the Fallout series.

Bugs[]

  • Access to the normally inaccessible section of the map on the westernmost edge is possible, on the square adjacent to the fence on one side and the red exit grid on the other. By clicking on the other side of the fence, the Chosen One will walk offscreen, and come back on the other side of the fence. There are footlockers in this new area containing the town's store's inventories.
    • If explosives are armed with an extended wait period and placed into the first footlocker, returning to speak with a shopkeeper will result in that individual now having lit explosives in their inventory.
    • Even if Jacob is in jail, his inventory in the new room will still restock.
    • Refrain from saving, reloading or changing from one zone to another while the armed explosives are waiting to go off, as this can cause crashes. [verified]
  • An infinite money exploit exists at the uranium refinery behind the caravan office. Bring uranium ore to the glowing white ghoul. If the player character agrees to have the ore refined for $1000, which takes one in-game day, the ghoul will ask to buy it back for $1500. At the dialogue screen where the ghoul buys the refined ore, repeat the conversation to sell repetitively, using the relevant number keys to speed the process. [verified]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Chosen One: "{107}{}{Who are you?}"
    Marcus: "{124}{mcs7}{I’m Marcus. Helped build the place. Now I’m sheriff.}"
    The Chosen One: "{125}{}{You helped build this place? That must have been a long time ago…}"
    Marcus: "{128}{mcs8}{Long story. Want it short or the whole thing?}"
    The Chosen One: "{130}{}{Hell, I’m not too busy. Let’s hear it all.}"
    Marcus: "{136}{mcs10}{Right...After the Master and the vats were destroyed, I wandered a bit. No place to go. One day got attacked by this fool wearin’ power armor.}"
    The Chosen One: "{137}{}{Really?}"
    Marcus: "{138}{mcs11}{That was Jacob, from the Brotherhood of Steel. He’d sworn some oath to destroy muties. We tussled for a while – probably a day or two. After a while, we just started laughing. What was the point?}"
    The Chosen One: "{139}{}{Then what?}"
    Marcus: "{140}{mcs12}{We became friends. Headed off together. Then other people started following us. Guess they figured if they weren’t safe with a mutie and a Steel Knight, safe just wasn’t going to happen. }"
    The Chosen One: "{141}{}{So you set up here. Why?}"
    Marcus: "{142}{mcs13}{Uranium mine. I knew there was one around from old maps. Now anybody’s welcome here – ‘long as they act right. Others might not think much of us, but nobody’s more free than we are. There ya go.}"
    (Marcus' dialogue)
  2. The Chosen One: "{143}{}{Wait… you were friends with a guy from the Brotherhood?}"
    Marcus: "{216}{mcs32}{Damn right. Best friend I ever had.}"
    The Chosen One: "{217}{}{Yeah, right, you would’ve dipped him just like everyone else.}"
    Marcus: "{219}{mcs33}{Hell, yes, I would've. What a great mutant he would’ve been.}"
    The Chosen One: "{220}{}{I don't think he'd be happy to hear you say that.}"
    Marcus: "{222}{mcs34}{(laughs) We had this argument all the time. (sigh) I miss that hard-head.}"
    (Marcus' dialogue)
  3. Fallout 2 endings; Broken Hills: "With the destruction of the conspiracy to destroy the mutants, Broken Hills began to thrive. Then the uranium ran out. The city, having lost its sole reason for existing, slowly dispersed. The residents carried their riches with them, leaving the place a wind-swept, desolate ghost town. A few hold-outs remained, attempting to eke out a pathetic existence, but eventually, they too, disappeared."
    Note: Fallout: New Vegas establishes this ending as canon.
  4. The Courier: "Tell me more about the tribal."
    Marcus: "We were looking for a GECK to save the village of Arroyo. Eventually, we did. Nuked an oil rig in the process. We went separate ways after that. I went east into the Rockies, looking for other mutants like myself. Don't know what happened to my friend. I've got a feeling it turned out all right in the end."
    (Marcus' dialogue)
  5. The Chosen One: "{120}{}{Why the glum flace?}"
    Stacy: "{134}{}{Oh, nothing really. Just sometimes I get thinking about my mom and cat. I miss them so very much.}"
    The Chosen One: "{135}{}{Cat?}"
    Stacy: "{137}{}{Yeah, Cuddles. She was such a sweet cat. I really don't feel like talking about it... Well, unless you'd like to buy me a drink. That might help.}"
    The Chosen One: "{139}{}{Of course I will. I'd love to hear about it.}"
    Stacy: "{146}{}{I hear there used to be ones that were as big as you and me. They used to eat animals as big as a brahmin. Now that's scary stuff.}"
    The Chosen One: "{148}{}{Yeah, it is.}"
    Stacy: "{149}{}{The kind I'm talking about is a small cute animal, bigger than a rat but smaller than a dog. Some are fluffy, like my Cuddles, but others have short hair.}"
    The Chosen One: "{150}{}{Really?}"
    Stacy: "{151}{}{They like to be pet like a dog does, but cats make this wonderful relaxing sound when you pet them.}"
    The Chosen One: "{152}{}{Strange.}"
    Stacy: "{153}{}{Cuddles always used to help me go to sleep at night. I think of her every night when I try to go to sleep.}"
    The Chosen One: "{155}{}{Go on.}"
    Stacy: "{156}{}{I had her when I was a kid, but she disappeared. I didn't know then what happened to her, I was too young.}"
    The Chosen One: "{157}{}{Why?}"
    Stacy: "{158}{}{Well, food was awfully scarce back then and people had to eat. It's quite sad really...}"
    The Chosen One: "{159}{}{What?}"
    Stacy: "{160}{}{People would hunt them because they were such easy prey. None of them are around anymore because of it.}"
    The Chosen One: "{162}{}{I can understand that.}"
    Stacy: "{163}{}{Those were the wild ones, but I'm sure that's what happened to mine. Now I know why Mom always kept a close eye on her.}"
    (Stacy's dialogue)
  6. Broken Hills citizen: "{261}{}{My cat’s breath smells like cat food.}"
    (male and female Broken Hills citizen's dialogue)

Non-game

  1. Fallout 2 Official Strategies & Secrets p.150: "Broken Hills provides all the uranium that Vault City and Gecko need for their atomic power plants. The radiation-resistant ghouls and mutants that live and work in Broken Hills make ideal uranium miners since they are not affected by exposure to radiation. Unfortunately, since Vault City will deal only with humans, the miners must use human traders as their intermediaries. These human salesmen charge the miners an exorbitant commission for their work. Tensions in this multiracial community have risen to a fever pitch because the human merchants have been accused of outright theft of the fruits of the miners' hard-earned labor."
  2. Fallout 2 begins in 2241:
    Fallout Bible 0: "2241 July 25 Fallout 2 Begins: Chosen One begins his mystic test, descending into the Temple of Trials."
Broken Hills
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