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Cambridge Polymer Labs is a location in the Commonwealth in 2287.

Background[]

This lab and its owner company, Cambridge Polymer Labs, LLC, were created in 2074 as a result of the research of three graduate students of the Commonwealth Institute of Technology, Jon Elwood, Ericka Woolum and Wilfred Bergman. The lab was involved in developing defense solutions and research for the U.S. military, funded entirely by a military research grant under the Defense Experimental Research Project Initiative.[1] Prior to the Great War, the company had been working on a supplementary piece of technology for power armor to convert radiation into electricity for a military contract that was intended for the Sino-American War.[Non-game 1]

When the bombs fell, Director Jon Elwood was told by the military that only essential personnel would be given a military escort to safety and that if they failed in their duties they would not be classified as such. In response, Elwood locked the other scientists, including his wife Ericka, in their respective labs until the project was successfully completed. Elwood made the decision to keep every scientist besides his wife out of the loop with what had truly transpired above them, fearing that it would send them into a panic and they would be unable or unwilling to complete the project.[2]

This decision proved fatal as his deception widened conflicts between the scientists and ultimately led to the deaths of a majority of the research team after a failed mutiny perpetuated by Wilfred Bergman, the suicide of Tom Franklin, and radiation leakage dooming the surviving staff.[3] By 2287, the only living beings inside the labs are feral ghouls.

Layout[]

Main lobby[]

When first entering the polymer labs, directly to the left is the orientation room, where Molly briefs visitors on a job acquired in the quest Cambridge Polymer Labs. Before entering the orientation room, the male and female restrooms are located to the right, and to the right lies a passage that leads to the clean room and allows access to the rest of the facility. Behind the desk is a storage area, and a door to the right leads upstairs to additional storage areas and offices. In the center of the second floor is the director's office, including a terminal providing exposition on what happened directly before and during the Great War.

Research area[]

On the first floor and second floor of the research labs, several numbered chemical sample containers can be found scattered about the myriad of rooms. A glowing one can be found deeper into the labs behind a quarantine door, which must be overridden before it can be accessed for the sample of U-238 stored inside.

Immediately upon proceeding past the decontamination room will be the primary lab where the "polymer coating applicator" will be discovered, which can be used to combine the various polymers and isotopes found throughout the other labs.

From room C1, a crude passageway gives access to the ventilation pipes leading to the other side of the research area, giving access to the locked room C3 where the radioactive containment password is stored. At the end of the ventilation system, Ericka's skeletal remains can be discovered.

Experiment samples numbers & names[]

The piezonucleic power armor can be created once by combining "U-238" with "Sample 611 Gold" and "Sample 3111 Lithium hydride."

Sample number Name ID
11317 Hydrochloric acid 0009BC88
3111 Lithium hydride 000A50F7
413 Gallium 000A018C
49 Cobalt 000A0190
611 Gold 000A50F5
65 Tungsten 000A018E

Notable loot[]

  • Massachusetts Surgical Journal issue #15 - In the director's office (Master locked door) on the second floor, next to a computer terminal, in which the key to the room can be obtained from Molly.
  • Vault-Tec lunchbox - When entering the building, behind a dividing wall just past the reception desk.
  • Hazmat suit - In the southwestern-most room (the room immediately left of room C4).
  • Fusion core - In the west corner of the director's office on the second floor within a display case.
  • Research Samples.
    • Unidentified sample 49 (cobalt) - Second floor, the room (room C1) on the east catwalk, on the desk with the skeleton wearing the trilby hat.
    • Unidentified sample 611 (gold) - Second floor, the room off of the (collapsed) west catwalk, on the desk next to the active computer terminal.
    • Unidentified sample 11317 (hydrochloric acid) - In the first room of the research area on the polymer coating applicator machine.
    • Unknown sample 3111 (lithium hydride)- In the same room as the hazmat suit (just south of room C4).
    • Unidentified sample 413 (gallium) - In the first-floor room (room C4) directly across from the room with the polymer coating applicator.
    • Unidentified sample 65 (tungsten) - In the northwestern-most first-floor room, accessible through the room with unidentified sample 413.
  • U-238 can be found in the isotope containment chamber, which can be unlocked via the terminal in C5 (which can be accessed via room C4). The isotope containment chamber is the room immediately to the left of room C2, or rather it's the room immediately to the right of the staircase if facing the said staircase. Across the radioactive waste there is a shelf that contains a single test tube in a rack which is the U-238 sample.
  • Suicide note - Next to the skeleton of Tom Franklin on the second floor in the research area.
  • Radioactive containment password - A holotape on the counter in room C3, which gives access to the isotope containment terminal in the room below it, C5.
  • A Nuka-Cola Quantum - On the counter in the kitchen in the southeast.
  • Cryo mine - Armed, in Wilfred Bergman's room in the west.

Related quests[]

  • Cambridge Polymer Labs: The Sole Survivor gets trapped and has to find a way to escape the laboratory in one piece.
  • Underground Undercover: After the Sole Survivor gets into the Institute, the Railroad wants them to make contact with an anonymous person inside, nicknamed Patriot, who has been helping synths escape.
  • Pest Control: Dr. Binet of the Institute's Robotics division asks the Sole Survivor to eliminate some feral ghouls that are causing problems for a synth scavenger team.

Notes[]

  • Depending on the answers given in Molly's hiring interview, different items will be received respective to job given in response. The janitor will receive a mechanic jumpsuit and a mop, sales personnel will receive a dirty tan suit and a pen, research personnel will receive a lab coat and battered clipboard, and security personnel will receive dirty army fatigues, patrolman sunglasses, and a baton. If the speech check is failed, the lab assistant position will be given, offering a lab coat and a battered clipboard in return.
  • The Cambridge Polymer Labs is a good source of crystal, which can be found in microscopes.
  • During random encounters, eyebots can be met outside of the facility playing recordings of recruitment ads for the labs.
  • During orientation, Molly will state that the lab assisted in creating Liberty Prime, which was vital in the defense of Anchorage. However, in Fallout 3, terminal entries state that Liberty Prime wasn't even ready when they were taking back Anchorage, meaning that Liberty Prime was never in Anchorage.

Companion comments[]

When at this location, companions make comments, which are activated at the entrance to the research labs hall.

Location comments
Character Comment Script note
Cait "What the heck is "polymer" anyway?" Walking through a destroyed laboratory. / Puzzled
Codsworth "Such a fine establishment back in the day." Sad and nostalgic - Recalling the great company this used to be. / Sad
Curie "Oh laboratories. We must see what they were researching." N/A
Danse "We should search this laboratory from top to bottom for useful technical information." Walking through a destroyed laboratory. / Neutral
Deacon "Boston used to be a hub for high tech companies. You can find places like this tucked away all over the place." N/A
John Hancock "Whatever space-age shit they made here, it sure wasn't blast-proof." Walking through a destroyed laboratory. / Neutral
Nick Valentine "Probably was a real nice set-up in its day." Walking through a destroyed laboratory. / Neutral
Piper Wright "Cambridge Polymer Lab, the cutting edge of decrepit." Walking through a destroyed laboratory. / Sarcastic
Preston Garvey "Looks like somebody's chemistry experiment went a little haywire..." Worried
Robert MacCready "Something in here went "kaboom." Maybe we shouldn't touch anything..." Walking through a destroyed laboratory. / Nervous
X6-88 "Look at this place. Talk about humble beginnings..." not impressed
Source: AO_Comment_Dialogue, branch AOT_DN015_1

Appearances[]

The Cambridge Polymer Labs appears only in Fallout 4.

Bugs[]

  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One Sometimes after dropping a research sample using console commands, there is a chance that it will de-spawn and be replaced with a floating object labeled "NONE."[verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One When the quest is completed, the samples will stay in the inventory marked as a quest item and therefore cannot be dropped.[verified]
    • After completing the quest, one can command Dogmeat to inspect the applicator's reagent inputs. Each time after doing so, the player will be allowed to insert another reagent into the machine without removing the previous one. This will allow one to remove all reagent quest items stuck in the player's inventory.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Molly: "The genesis of Cambridge Polymer Labs lies in the research of a group brilliant graduate students. Jon Elwood, Ericka Woolum, and Wilfred Bergman met during their time together at CIT. This slide shows them at their graduation. Their research into nucleostrictive and piezoelectric polymers caught the attention of Col. George Kemp in the fall of 2073. In the spring of 2074 the company was founded, with a generous grant provided by the Defense Experimental Research Project Initiative. The research produced here has resulted in several of components used in the Liberty Prime project that led to the successful defense of Anchorage. The company enjoys a strong relationship with the military and welcomes your addition to the research team that helps build a better America."
    (Molly's dialogue)
  2. Cambridge Polymer Labs terminal entries; Ericka's terminal, [J. Elwood] - Confidential
  3. Suicide note

Non-game

  1. Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide p. 407: "[7.08] CAMBRIDGE POLYMER LABS
    This laboratory was a research facility looking into the development of Smart Materials to convert radiation. It appears to have suffered a catastrophic failure after the bombs fell."

    (Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Map)
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