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For the Honest Hearts perk, see Eye for Eye. |
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Eye for an Eye is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Side Quest: Eye for an Eye | |||||||||||||
| Discover Cottonwood Cove. | |||||||||||||
| Talk to First Sergeant Astor at Camp Searchlight about Cottonwood Cove. | |||||||||||||
| Agree to help him plant a bug and find Legion intel. | |||||||||||||
| Return to Cottonwood Cove HQ. | |||||||||||||
| Siding with the NCR: | Siding with Caesar's Legion: | ||||||||||||
| Plant the NCR bug. | Turn the bug over to Aurelius of Phoenix. (grants Legion fame) | ||||||||||||
| Find the Legion raid plans and Legion patrol notes. | Accept the old Legion paperwork, old Legion patrol notes and old Legion raid plans. | ||||||||||||
| Bring back the real intel to First Sergeant Astor. | Bring back the outdated intel to First Sergeant Astor. | ||||||||||||
| Reward: 200/250 caps 500/1,000 XP NCR fame | Reward: 150/200/250 caps 500/1,000 XP Legion fame Bad Karma | ||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
After discovering Cottonwood Cove, go visit First Sergeant Astor (who patrols around Camp Searchlight). One can initiate dialogue about Cottonwood Cove and Astor asks the player character to travel to Cottonwood Cove, collect some intelligence on Legion troop movements, raids, and plant a bug in their radio.
- The Legion raid intel is in a filing cabinet to the left of the buggable radio (left while looking at the radio) on the first floor command HQ building. The intel on Legion troop movements is in the desk on the second floor. Because taking both intel documents is considered stealing, this will give the Courier negative Karma.
- Alternatively, the Courier can expose the plot to Aurelius of Phoenix, and give him the NCR bug (this will give Legion fame). Aurelius will in turn give them the old Legion paperwork, old Legion patrol notes, and old Legion raid plans. If these pieces of false intelligence are given to Astor, he thanks the Courier, and the quest concludes, with them receiving 500 XP, 150 caps, and Legion fame.
If the Courier returns to Astor with the real intelligence and plants the bug, 500 XP will be gained and the Courier gains an additional option to wipe out all Legion forces from Cottonwood Cove. This provides NCR fame, 250 caps, Legion infamy (if they spot the Courier in the act) and 1,000 XP. When one receives the option to wipe out the Legion camp, Astor calls them "crazy" but believes they can pull it off.
To get the most fame with the NCR, locate the red truck hanging precariously off the cliff at Cottonwood overlook over the Legion camp. The Courier's Geiger counter will show radiation leaking from the truck when they get close. Go to the back of the truck, and select the door. The option to open the door becomes available (50 Lockpick required), dropping several radioactive barrels into the camp, effectively killing the Legion the same way they killed the NCR forces at Camp Searchlight. Astor will be quite pleased with this outcome.
It is best to wait for all the barrels to fall into the camp before fast traveling to talk to Astor. If one opens up the truck but fast travels to Astor too soon, then the game doesn't realize the legionaries were killed using the radioactive waste.
Quest stages[]
Notes[]
- The dialogue option to start the quest, "I found a Legion camp at Cottonwood Cove," will only be available once Cottonwood Cove is discovered on the map.
- Completing the quest with Craig Boone as a follower will earn history points towards triggering his companion quest, I Forgot to Remember to Forget.
- If the legionaries in Cottonwood Cove are already dead, the quest will automatically complete after telling Astor about it. The Courier will receive NCR fame, 200 caps, 1,000 XP, and Astor will also call them a "beast." If the Courier is a woman, he will comment on how a lone woman wiping out the entire camp is "priceless" and that it will make Caesar's troops reconsider how they treat women. There is no option to plant a bug and steal the intel afterwards.
- If the radioactive barrels are released into Cottonwood Cove before freeing the slaves, the quest Left My Heart will fail. The Weathers can be found in a locked pen behind the storage building. They are wearing slave collars that need to either be safely removed, maliciously detonated or provided with the key, in which case they will unlock themselves and escape. However, Anders, who needs to be freed as part of Aba Daba Honeymoon, is far enough away not to be harmed by the radiation.
- It is possible to complete this quest and eradicate the entire camp without incurring Legion infamy; if the Courier wears Caesar's Legion armor, makes Boone wait at Ranger Station Echo nearby, and utilizes the radioactive barrels to eliminate the Legion soldiers. The Courier will incur no reputation loss for dropping the barrels into Cottonwood Cove when [HIDDEN].
- If the Courier stays after dropping the barrels, they can observe most of the non-unique Legion troops running up to the barrels and dying in a group. The named ones will simply die on the spot.
- Killing the legionaries in Cottonwood Cove, and then releasing the barrels will still give the extra NCR fame.
- If the radioactive barrels have been released, the ferry can still be used to reach Caesar's camp. The Legion ferryman, Cursor Lucullus, will now be wearing a radiation suit and will still grant access to the Fort.
Behind the scenes[]
- "Eye for an eye" is a phrase dating back to the Babylonian Empire which expanded and thrived under the rule of Hammurabi. Hammurabi created a set of laws called Hammurabi's Code which stated that any crime would be punished equal to the crime perpetrated, though graded depending on social status.
- The principle is also found in the Bible, in Exodus 21:24: "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."
- One interpretation of the Bible quote is frequently attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, though there is no documented evidence of him ever saying it. He supposedly said, "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind," reflecting his staunch pacifism and indicating a belief that seeking equivalent retribution will only incur further consequences, both for the victim and society.
Bugs[]
Sometimes, dropping the radioactive barrels will not kill all the legionaries. They will remain standing in front of the barrels without ever succumbing to the radiation. Four legionaries line up at the base of the cliff while the barrels roll right through them. However, the objective is still marked as complete in spite of the fact that the survivors can still be killed, targeted through V.A.T.S., and otherwise interacted with.[verified]- The truck door isn't always locked, making the quest much easier.[verified]
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