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Ranger Station Charlie. We're responsible for keeping the highway up through Novac civilized.Ranger Stepinac

Ranger Station Charlie is a location in the Mojave Wasteland in Fallout: New Vegas.

Background[]

Once known as the Shady Pines Trailer Park pre-War, it has since been converted by the New California Republic Rangers into a stronghold, providing the rangers with a safehouse and establishes a semblance of territorial control for the southeastern sector of the Mojave,[1][2] especially important after the fall of Camp Searchlight. The trailers have been piled up to create a makeshift fortress, with the communications center and barracks set up in the old trailer park office building.[non-game 1]

The commanding officer of the station is Ranger Beaumont,[3] but both he and the majority of his command are out on patrol, leaving his communications officer, Stepinac to watch over the encampment while they were away. While the location of the encampment allows for force projection throughout the region, its placement below the hills makes its radio communications with Camp McCarran spotty.[4][5]

Layout[]

Situated southwest of Novac and east of Harper's shack, the station's main building is to the right of the entrance. The second time the player character arrives at the station, after Render Unto Caesar is active, or if requested to check on the site by Ranger Andy, the station's troops will have been slaughtered. There are two bodies on the floor in the first room, each booby-trapped with a frag mine hidden underneath. One of two audio tapes (tape #2) is straight ahead from the entrance, on top of the three stacked metal boxes.

The other tape (tape #1) is under the desk next to the metal boxes. The tape has been left behind intentionally by members of Caesar's Legion, claiming responsibility for the massacre at Ranger Station Charlie, and informing the listener that they took a hostage with them.

The room on the left with bunkbeds contains a trap consisting of a tripwire running across the doorway, that is connected to a rigged shotgun under the bunk beds. This gun is pointed at two antique fire extinguishers, positioned in front of an armed bottlecap mine that will detonate either with proximity or by the explosion from the fire extinguishers being hit by the rigged shotgun blast.

The room also contains various junk and two dead NCR soldiers. The male corpse will have NCR Ranger patrol armor in poor condition, along with a random weapon such as a pistol or revolver. Under the bunk bed with two cinderblocks underneath is an Average locked floor safe, containing ammunition, caps, Rad-X, and stimpaks. Under the bed in the northeast corner is a locked footlocker, but it is empty.

Outside the building, many derelict mobile homes and cars are piled up, acting as fortifications. Ammunition, weapons, footlockers, and beds can be found inside the trailers.

Affecting Ranger Station Charlie[]

Once the unmarked quest Andy and Charlie is triggered by talking to Ranger Andy in Novac, Ranger Station Charlie suffers an ambush by legionnaires no matter what. However, there are still ways to affect Ranger Station Charlie's fate outside of that quest:

  • Legion forces will still occupy the station once Render Unto Caesar becomes active or if the player character returns a second time.
  • If the updated radio codes to the station are delivered as part of the Return to Sender quest, the station will not be attacked.

Inhabitants[]

Notable loot[]

  • Ranger Station Charlie audio log 1 & 2 - Log 1 is under the desk in front of the player character as they enter, and Log 2 on top of the stack of metal boxes, just to the right of that desk. These logs are only present after starting Andy and Charlie.
  • Armed bottlecap mine - Just behind the trapped door to the left inside the building.

Related quests[]

Notes[]

  • If one visits prior to talking to Andy, all items at the location will be considered stolen if taken. However, there are three first aid boxes in the first room that will have disappeared after the Legion attack. Therefore, a loss of Karma is the only way to attain them.
  • Comm Officer Stepinac is not one of the corpses found after the Legion attack; he disappears from the game once Andy and Charlie is triggered.
  • Approaching from the hills to the east on the way from Novac will result in several Legion members sneaking towards the station, but they will not attack.
    • Alternately, prior to the slaughter of the rangers, a four-member patrol of NCR troopers may be encountered along the road outside the station. These soldiers may encounter the Legion patrol and engage them. Both groups may also engage the Vipers camped at the train tunnel or laying ambush behind the billboards north of the location. They will despawn permanently after leaving the location.
  • Up the road towards Novac, a skeleton will be found with a metal helmet and a crashed motorcycle a short distance from the body.
  • Occasionally, an NCR Ranger will appear in the farthest trailer from the entrance during the night and will sit in a chair overlooking the road to the left during the day. He has no dialogue if the player character tries to speak with him. Also, a prospector may be found resting there.

Appearances[]

Ranger Station Charlie appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Bugs[]

  • PCPC If the Courier exits the station building and encounters a hostile group of Legionaries spawned outside the compound, going back inside the main building and coming back out may cause them to disappear.[verified]
  • PCPC Before taking Ranger Andy's request to check on the station, the interior building will have the post-raid status, while the exterior is still populated by NCR personnel.[verified]
  • Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 A veteran legionary may be sitting on top of one of the trailer overlooks even when the station is still under NCR control, and will engage the rangers when detected. [verification overdue]

Behind the scenes[]

All Ranger stations in the Mojave are named in order of the real-world NATO phonetic alphabet.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. The Courier: "What is this place?"
    Stepinac: "Ranger Station Charlie. We're responsible for keeping the highway up through Novac civilized."
    (Stepinac's dialogue)
  2. The Courier: "Are there a lot of Rangers in the Mojave?"
    Stepinac: "Couple dozen, I'd say, most of them posted at stations like this one. We either man the station or patrol the immediate area."
    (Stepinac's dialogue)
  3. The Courier: "Anything unusual happening around here?"
    Stepinac: "All quiet at the moment. Ranger Beaumont is in charge here, but he's off leading a patrol."
    (Stepinac's dialogue)
  4. Stepinac: "Hey there. Is McCarran having you check up on us?"
    (Stepinac's dialogue) Note: This line is spoken if the player character is wearing faction-specific armor.
  5. The Courier: "What was that about McCarran?"
    Stepinac: "Radio signal out here can be pretty spotty because of all the hills. Sometimes our scheduled updates don't go through. When it happens enough times, they send someone over to check up on us. Lately, we've been getting extra medical supplies for some reason. I'm in no rush to give the supplies back, either."
    (Stepinac's dialogue)

non-game

  1. Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition pp. 412-413: "[5.23] Ranger Station Charlie
    Perhaps the most defendable station, this is certainly the least remote. The cluster of buildings around a ranch house have mattresses you're welcome to sleep on (Infamy permitting), as well as stand on the roof of, if you're sniping. There's some Sunglasses up here, too. Inside Comm Officer Stepinac isn't very friendly, but you can ask him about their interact with Camp McCarran [2.19], the purpose of the station (to keep the road to Novac "civilized"), and the NCR Rangers, including the one in charge; Ranger Beaumont, who is off on patrol, and isn't available. There's little in here to steal, but there's more places to seep."
    (Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition Tour of the Mojave Wasteland)
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