Back in Your Own Backyard is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Side Quest: Back in Your Own Backyard | |||||||||||||
| Talk to Ranger Milo in the NCR checkpoint southwest of Nelson. | |||||||||||||
| Rescue the NCR hostages. | Kill the NCR hostages. | ||||||||||||
| Reward: 150 XP, 50 Caps and NCR fame, plus Caesar's Legion infamy. | |||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
Starting the quest[]
Traveling east along the road from Toxic Dump Site, the Courier discovers a military checkpoint manned by a handful of NCR soldiers. Among them, a Ranger named Milo is trying to deal with a hostage situation in the nearby town of Nelson.
However, Milo is not going to accept help from just anybody, as he is looking for someone who has made a name for themselves, as well as not afraid of getting their hands dirty. The Courier will have to convince Milo for the quest, which means skipping or passing Speech checks of various levels, depending on their overall reputation with the NCR.
| Helpful Reputation ("Fame") | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Range 1 | Range 2 | Range 3 | Range 4 | ||
| Harmful Reputation ("Infamy") |
Range 1 | [1] Neutral | [2] Accepted | [2] Liked | [2] Idolized |
| Range 2 | [3] Shunned | [0] Mixed | [1] Smiling Troublemaker | [2] Good-Natured Rascal | |
| Range 3 | [3] Hated | [1] Sneering Punk | [0] Unpredictable | [1] Dark Hero | |
| Range 4 | [3] Vilified | [3] Merciful Thug | [1] Soft-Hearted Devil | [0] Wild Child | |
- [0] No Speech check required.
- [1] Passing a Speech check of 25 required.
- [2] Passing a Speech check of 35 required.
- [3] Passing a Speech check of 45 required.
After skipping or passing the Speech check, tell Milo to "Sign me up" and the quest will start. Milo will immediately run towards the cover location on a nearby cliff and start shooting any Legion soldiers within his line of sight.
Deal with the hostages[]
One must now decide whether to kill or rescue the three hostages, crucified at the rough center of the town in front of the two large warehouse buildings, currently serving as barracks for the Legion forces.
Killing the hostages is recommended by Milo and will be much easier with a powerful long-range weapon. Just take the shots on the high ground before the Legion soldiers can react.
On the other hand, in order to rescue the hostages, one must get into the town and untie all three hostages. Once untied, the crucified troopers will start running back to the checkpoint, and will flee from any conflict.
Once all the hostages are either dead or untied, talk to Milo again to complete the quest. Regardless of the outcome, the reward for the quest will be the same.
Quest stages[]
Notes[]
- Legionary assassins may attack and wipe out the NCR checkpoint even while the player is raiding Nelson per the quest objective, preventing the player from completing the quest as Ranger Milo will most likely not survive.
- One can attempt to prevent this from occurring by leaving their companions behind in wait mode at the checkpoint to bolster the area's defenses. It can be made even easier by placing the companions in front of the soldiers as human shields, and even more so using Veronica's glitch to have every companion in the game (minus one of the non-humanoids) all at once and equipping them with heavy armor and weapons.
- This quest provides "history" points with Boone, used for activating one of his companion quests. The player character will gain one point for killing the hostages, and two points for untying them.
- Should one try to rescue the hostages, it is not required to keep them safe until they reach the checkpoint. They will be considered rescued as long as one of the untied troopers is still alive when the player character initiates dialogue with Milo to complete the quest.
- Legion soldiers assigned to Nelson will turn hostile if the Courier hits or unties any of the hostages, even if the act is undetected. The Legion mongrels in the area are unaffected by this.
- There are four Legion explorers stationed at each of the four cardinal directions from the camp who will confront the Courier if approached. See here for further details of the interaction. If the Courier agrees to be escorted to Dead Sea, all four explorers will disappear from the town.
- If, for any reason, the Legion is hostile towards the Courier at the moment, the aforementioned explorers will always "sense" the player character when approached for the first time, no matter how "stealthy" the player character is. This only happens once for each explorer, and one with high enough Sneak skill or the help of stealth-enhancing items, such as a Stealth Boy, can still avoid full detection.
- Although this quest and Restoring Hope can be done in any order, the NCR troops walking around Nelson seem oblivious to the three crucified men after taking control of the town.
- The Courier can help the NCR to get rid of the Legion in Nelson and complete Restoring Hope without rescuing the hostages, before having ever spoken with Ranger Milo. This may result in Milo mentioning how the Courier has helped the NCR to take Nelson from the Legion, and immediately gives them this quest as if Nelson was still under control of the Legion.
- After convincing Ranger Milo to let the Courier help with the hostage situation, he will make a joke about using Psycho on his soldiers. If the player's inventory contains Psycho, there will be a dialogue option of offering to use it. This option will not change the quest but will result in increased NCR fame.
Behind the scenes[]
This quest's title refers to popular song of the same name from 1927.
Bugs[]
Ranger Milo may not recognize that the Courier saved the hostages until all Legion members are dead. Keep in mind that there are several guard towers on the outskirts manned by recruit legionaries, far enough that the Courier may not even see them on their radar. Until this condition is fulfilled, Milo will stay in the "active" position. Dead Sea, who resides in the command building, is not counted as part of this. However, any Legion Mongrels are included regardless of whether the Courier has the Animal Friend perk. [verified]- Ranger Milo may not return to the checkpoint, staying in "active" position even if one kills all Legion members prior to initiating the quest, because he is waiting for the Courier to still kill the hostages. However, if one decides to save the hostage(s), speaking to him while he is still on the ridge may allow them to finish the quest.
- Even if one kills all Legion members silently wearing different faction armor, they may still be awarded Legion infamy when the quest is turned in for completion.
- It is possible that Boone will not recognize that the Courier saved the hostages and will react negatively towards them as if the Courier decided to execute them. [verified]
