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Residents report briefly seeing a column of heavenly light coming out of the sky. Apocalypse predictors haven't been this excited since the war.— After completion of That Lucky Old Sun, with power routed to ARCHIMEDES II.

Euclid's C-Finder is a unique weapon in Fallout: New Vegas.

Background[]

Originally designed and developed by Poseidon Energy as a rangefinder device for the ARCHIMEDES II orbital laser platform, the C-Finder remained in storage at the HELIOS One power plant following the Great War.

Sometime before 2273, a chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel led by Father Elijah occupied HELIOS One and discovered the ARCHIMEDES program, though found that the rangefinder itself was no longer in the plant. Elijah theorized that a scavenger acquired it prior to their arrival and sold it on the New Vegas Strip.[1] This theory turned out to be true, as sometime after Vault 21 was opened and turned into a hotel, Sarah Weintraub had acquired and then sold the C-Finder to a man who was under the "persuasion" of Father Elijah to purchase it.[2] After acquiring the C-Finder, the man ended up in Freeside, where he tried to remove his slave collar but ultimately caused it to detonate and kill him.[3][4] Sometime later, the man's body and the rangefinder were found by Max. Mistaking it for a toy, Max took the rangefinder and began chasing his friend Stacey around with it for fun.

Characteristics[]

The C-Finder is a handheld rangefinder linked to an orbiting laser weapon, codenamed ARCHIMEDES II. Firing Euclid's C-Finder will result in a five-second delay and an animated sequence on the weapon's display before the impact. Euclid's C-Finder is not influenced by the player character's Energy Weapons skill.

Pressing the trigger constitutes firing the weapon, which will alert nearby enemies. The weapon can only be used once every 24-hours in-game, and does not work indoors. Euclid's C-Finder can fire a total of about 3995 times from full condition before breaking.

Location[]

The weapon is in the possession of Max, a child living in Freeside. He's typically found chasing Stacey around the street in front of Mick & Ralph's during the day. The player character can pay Max 1000 bottle caps, or 20 bottle caps with 45 Barter. Otherwise, the player character can wait until Max goes to bed, usually after 9 pm, then pickpocket the weapon from him, resulting in a loss of Karma.

Related quests[]

  • That Lucky Old Sun: In order to use Euclid's C-Finder, the player character must complete the quest by choosing to direct power to ARCHIMEDES II at the end of the quest. If the player has already completed that quest without directing the power to ARCHIMEDES II, the C-Finder becomes useless as a weapon.

Notes[]

  • Euclid's C-Finder cannot be used in V.A.T.S.
  • If one has Veronica as a companion, she will respond "Yeah, I guess it works" when it is first fired.
  • The weapon will not always fire if the recharge time of 24 hours is waited using the "wait" function instead of in-game time.
  • Sometimes, around every two days, one may obtain another C-finder from Max if the player character chooses to use the Barter check. This can be repeated up to four times.
  • Even though Euclid's C-Finder is considered a unique weapon, there is no "normal" variant of it.
  • If one pickpockets the weapon from Max instead of buying it, he will later reappear chasing Stacey. He will not have the weapon equipped, but if one talks to him he will pull it out. The player character can then wait until it gets dark and pickpocket another from him.
  • After firing it for the first time, Mr. New Vegas will have a news article about the event on Radio New Vegas.
  • If the player character did not direct the power to ARCHIMEDES II at the end of That Lucky Old Sun, this can be reverted through the console command set "e282d".nPowerConfiguration to 4.
  • If the player character has yet to direct power at the end of That Lucky Old Sun, the weapon can be made usable through the above console command AND the following command: set "e282d".bRetargetComplete to 1. Note that this may cause bugs should the player decide to proceed with the quest.

Behind the scenes[]

The name Euclid's C-Finder, and the graphics it shows the player while it is operating, are a reference to using Euclidean geometry to find the third point, C, of a triangle, given points A and B, and distances BC and AC. In this example B is the player's position on the ground, A is the position of the ARCHIMEDES II satellite, and C is the position of the target.

Bugs[]

Bugs
  • Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 After exiting The Thorn or fast traveling with Euclid's C-Finder in your inventory, it may fire a beam with no warning, hitting The Courier, their companions and any other non-player characters in range. [verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 It is possible Euclid's C-Finder may re-spawn multiple times on Max. If you do not have the gun in your inventory and return to Freeside sometime after acquiring it, Max will have another Euclid's C-Finder. This will also result in additional ARCHII charges added each day for each Euclid's C-Finder in the player character's inventory. [verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 If the player character has the Heave, Ho! perk, firing Euclid's C-Finder may freeze the game. To fix this a player user can remove the perk using console commands, this will allow the player to fire the weapon without crashing. [verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 When trying to fire, the targeting laser may repeatedly play its animation without the laser firing. To fix, save the game with the gun drawn and firing and then quit the game completely back to the desktop/reset console. Restart, reload, and wait for the firing animation to complete. Ensuring to save far enough away from the target to not be hit, but close enough that the animation is still visible and playing. [verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 Sometimes the gun will not get any ammunition after activating ARCHIMEDES II, or it will fire a few times and then not get any more ammunition. To fix, save the game and then quit to the desktop/reset console. Reload the saved game and then after some time the charges will spawn as normal. [verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 Sometimes Euclid's C-Finder will not fire at all, despite the lasers being visible. However, the orbital strike will still take place some time after this at the intended location. Entering a building and waiting or sleeping until midnight followed by staying inside for 5–10 minutes will prevent the delayed strike from occurring as the gun cannot be fired inside.[verified]
  • Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 The game seems to register kills with Euclid's C-Finder as "unarmed" kills as evidenced by getting the Beautiful Beatdown perk while using it. [verified]
  • PCPC Xbox 360Xbox 360 Obtaining Euclid's C-Finder before completing or at least initiating the quest I Could Make You Care, could bug the quest. See the quest page for details. [verified]
  • Xbox 360Xbox 360 If aimed at a lake or body of water, there will be a bright flash of light, but no laser. [verified]
  • Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Euclid's C-Finder may disappear from the player character's inventory after being caught stealing from the Silver Rush in Freeside, even after killing them. [verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 If one obtains a second Euclid's C-Finder, DO NOT repair them. This may cause the bug in which it does not fire, and will show the laser marks only repeatedly even with another weapon out and may not fire. It is possible to fix this issue by removing the affected C-Finder from your inventory then buying or stealing a new one. [verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Sometimes if the player character pickpockets the C-Finder, it will be in barely maintained condition instead of perfect. [verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 The weapon may also fire immediately after loading a save chronologically after the laser was targeted so aim away from everything able to be killed. [verified]

Sounds[]

SingleShotVB BurstVB
Euclid's C-Finder icon Euclid's C-Finder icon

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. The Courier: "Tell me about the rangefinder."
    Veronica Santangelo: "It's a targeting device for some kind of doomsday weapon based at HELIOS One. It was lost sometime after the War. We held HELIOS One for a time. Lost a lot of people defending it. Too many. All for this weapon they never got working. If it turns out to be a dud, it'd show how flawed our goals have been. Father Elijah said he thinks a scavenger might have sold it on the Strip."
    (Veronica Santangelo's dialogue)
  2. The Courier: "I'm looking for an antique rangefinder somebody might've sold you."
    Sarah Weintraub: "Wow, I wish I had more of them. All this interest. It'd be my biggest seller. I sold it to a man not too long ago. Real twitchy, nervous sort of guy. Kinda seemed like he was wiggin' out about something. Had a funny collar on. I wanted to ask him about it but I figured maybe I'd regret asking. People are weird around here."
    (Sarah Weintraub's dialogue)
  3. The Courier: "What'd you tell him?"
    Sarah Weintraub: "I said I didn't know about anything like that around here. But if he wanted to live for free, a lot of people do that in Freeside. I know there's a concrete building there across from Mick and Ralph's. No ceiling, but I think it still counts. Went up there one time to try and... you know... meet my neighbors in the biz. But you know, I don't think they took me very seriously."
    (Sarah Weintraub's dialogue)
  4. The man's dead body in a ruined building in Freeside
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