I Fought the Law is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Side Quest: I Fought the Law | |||||||||||||
| Talk to Eddie and ask if he has any work. | |||||||||||||
| Kill Chavez. | Convince Chavez to leave with a speech check. | ||||||||||||
| Report back to Eddie and get your assignment. | |||||||||||||
| Deal with a suspicious merchant near Jean Sky Diving. | |||||||||||||
| Betray Eddie to the NCR, attacking the prison. | Kill the suspicious merchant and return to Eddie, defending the prison. | ||||||||||||
| Reward: Various weapons, armor, ammunition and items from dead Powder Gangers and NCR troopers NCR fame, 300 XP | Reward: Various weapons, armor, ammunition and items from dead Powder Gangers and NCR troopers Powder Gangers fame, 200 XP, 100 caps, 1 Mentats, 1 Psycho, 1 Buffout | ||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
The quest is triggered by talking to Eddie at the NCR Correctional Facility, specifically in the upstairs office administration building, seated behind the desk with the caricatured portrait of President Kimball. Talking to him and asking how one can help will begin the quest.
- Having a reputation with the Powder Gangers no lower than Shunned by completing Ghost Town Gunfight and avoiding directly killing any of Joe Cobb's group, it is still be possible to talk to Eddie in order to receive this quest. Assaulting anyone in the prison or gaining another level of infamy will earn a Vilified reputation and turn the Powder Gangers hostile upon entering. Completing the quest Booted for Boxcars in Nipton or Why Can't We Be Friends? for either Samuel Cooke or Philip Lem in Vault 19 may provide a sufficient boost to reputation, provided one is not already Vilified. If the Powder Gangers are hostile still, one can talk to Eddie by using a Stealth Boy outside the entrance and sneaking all the way to Eddie (not always a guarantee). Stand up and immediately talk to Eddie and the quest can be initiated. A Stealth Boy will be required each time the player character goes back to talk to Eddie until the quest ends with the NCR confrontation. Alternatively, acquiring a disguise from the bodies of the Cobb group can reset one's reputation to Neutral, allowing for access.
Take care of Chavez[]
Eddie first asks the player character to "take care" of a gang led by Chavez, believed by Eddie to be attempting to set up his own crew and desert the NCRCF group. Chavez and his men are found at the Powder Ganger camp south, a short distance southwest of the prison. Chavez can either be convinced to "move on" with 30 Speech or killed. Talking to him without being able to pass the Speech check results in combat. Killing him and his men will not lose any reputation with the Powder Gangers, and his "crew" may not turn hostile if Chavez is killed in front of them first. Killing him or his crew after convincing him to move on also does not cause any reputation loss with the Powder Gangers. After he is dealt with, one must return to Eddie and let him know Chavez is handled to gain a small amount of Powder Gangers fame.
Deal with the traveling merchant[]
Eddie next sends the player character to "deal with" a suspicious traveling merchant residing near Jean Sky Diving. With 6 Intelligence or 30 Speech, one can convince him to reveal that he is actually a bounty hunter trying to nail some of the Powder Gangers. One can optionally shake him down for a "toll" with 30 Speech. The bounty hunter may attack even after he is convinced to leave, even if one is not dressed as a Powder Ganger. If the prior options fail, the merchant can be killed without Karma penalty. Once the merchant has been dealt with, report back to Eddie to gain more Powder Gangers fame.
The NCR attacks[]
Finally, Eddie instructs the player character to find out about the NCR's plans for the prison. This is accomplished by heading to Primm and talking to either Johnson Nash or Lt. Hayes.
Talking to Nash will have him ask for compensation in exchange for information and one has the option to:
- Pay 100 caps
- Pass a 30 Barter check to pay 50 caps
- Appoint a new sheriff to Primm and pass a 30 Barter check to pay 20 caps
- Pass a 30 Speech check to get the information for free
Hayes will only tell the player character that military orders are classified, unless they already know - either by pickpocketing the "Military orders" off him, and/or by getting the information from Nash first. Once the information has been acquired, one has the option to either report back to Eddie or betray him to Lt. Hayes and help the NCR take back the prison.
Side with Powder Gangers[]
If the player character reports back to Eddie, he will reward them with 1 Buffout, 1 Psycho, 1 Mentats, 100 caps, and 200 XP. By then, the NCR has arrived, and Eddie says the player character is free to leave, but has the option to kill some of them on the way out. As soon as one exits the building, the assault will begin, and NCR troopers pour into the facility and attack. No reputation with the NCR will be lost for informing on them; however, all the soldiers assaulting the base will be hostile to the player character, which will likely cause NCR reputation loss as a result of fighting back (only if one kills any of the soldiers). Alternately, one can change into NCR armor before exiting the building, the NCR invaders will be neutral, but the Powder Gangers will be hostile.
If the Powder Gangers defeat the attackers, go and speak with Eddie again where he will thank the player character and award a large amount of Powder Gangers fame.
Side with NCR[]
If one instead chooses to betray Eddie to the NCR, speak with Lt. Hayes and offer assistance in the assault. He will tell the player character to rendezvous with Sgt. Lee, located just to the southeast of the prison (on a hill, approximately in line between Powder Ganger camp south and the prison). Upon initiating dialogue with him, he will give the player character a short "briefing," and the assault will begin. The quest will end once Eddie is dead, but as the Powder Gangers will rush out into the courtyard for the battle, Eddie will most likely be one of the last Powder Gangers alive anyway. One will be awarded 300 XP for completing the quest, and gain reputation with the NCR after speaking with Lee after Eddie dies. If Lee dies during the assault, no NCR reputation will be gained.
Lee may mention reporting back to Lt. Hayes after the quest has finished, but if My Kind of Town has already been completed, he will be gone from the NCR camp at Primm. One may run into him later at Camp Forlorn Hope. It is possible that Hayes and some of the troops under his command were sent to Hope, and that is why some troops at Forlorn Hope say that they got reinforced by troops from Primm.
Quest stages[]
Notes[]
- It is possible to kill all the Powder Gangers before the assault on the prison (including Eddie) and complete the quest (by implementing sneak kills with a silenced weapon to avoid Powder Gangers infamy, then kill Eddie when one is told to report to Sergeant Lee - reporting back to Sergeant Lee after killing Eddie will generate an automatic mission success).
- Killing Eddie prior to that point will create a mission failure.
- By doing this it is also possible to gain the rewards for helping Eddie (300 XP instead of the normal 200), only become shunned (Powder Ganger camps will not attack the player character) by the Powder Gangers (See Notes) and gain the reputation increase with the NCR. First, betray Eddie to Hayes. Then, instead of talking to Lee outside of the prison, head on in. Speak to Eddie prior to killing him and let him know about the attack, stealth kill him and equip NCR faction armor (armor optional), then run outside and through the visitor's center to speak with Lee as he is running (from the left) inside. Keep running after speaking to him and over the ridge if one lacks NCR faction armor. He will reward only NCR reputation and not Powder Ganger infamy, as the latter would normally occur at this point but does no due to turning the quest in first to Eddie. Similarly, the player character gains the 300 XP for the NCR completion even though the quest is finished by Eddie.
- However, if the player character uses the above method, all the NCR troopers inside the administration center will be hostile to them from that point on (even days or weeks later) if they ever enter the area without an NCR faction disguise equipped.
- Powder Gangers in the scattered camps are hostile to the player character until Neutral or Shunned reputation is established, avoid killing them loudly to be able to speak to Eddie initially.
- It is possible to talk to Eddie without a Stealth Boy, even if one is vilified by the Powder Gangers. The easiest way to do this is to kill Powder Gangers who can see through disguises (Dawes, Carter, Hannigan, bodyguards, etc), and stealthily kill all other Powder Gangers (Not necessary to kill Meyers). One may need to remove and then put the Powder Gangers faction armor back on to reset rep back to neutral, and also wait around until they no longer sense the player character, so they no longer appear as hostile. Using this technique, one can get rid of every Powder Ganger at the NCR Correctional Facility except for Eddie and Meyers. Then, every time one wants to talk to Eddie, run in and talk to him before he has a chance to get up. When dialogue ends, run out of the room so he cannot see the player character and turn hostile. One can also try to sneak behind the computer on his desk and back away.
- Killing all of Eddie's guards stealthily may allow one to get to Eddie and initiate dialogue without hostilities, as a workaround for the above issue. If he becomes hostile when approached after his guards are dead, try running quickly at him and repeatedly trying to talk. If the player character gets to him before he stands up, he will talk to them. Also, one can sneak behind the computer on his desk after the talk, back away to the wall, then stand up and walk away.
- If one wants to help the Powder Gangers or sit back and let the NCR and Gangers fight it out (without betraying them), it is recommended that one visits the Cell Blocks and the Visitor Center, so that more Gangers will join the battle. This will lead to a slightly more even fight.
- If one wants to be certain to complete the quest, (and not intervene), one will have to visit each cell block, otherwise the NCR will just kill the Powder Gangers in the yard, then the Admin building. After Eddie is killed the NCR troops will go into idle mode and walk around the building leaving the Powder Gangers alive in other buildings. One named Powder Ganger may remain in one of the cell blocks, (a sneak kill if one wants to keep their rep intact).
- If one has low Intelligence when reporting to Eddie after dealing with the bounty hunter, the player character will say "I got rid of the bunny hunter."
- Although the player character can pickpocket the attack orders from Lt. Hayes before the quest, they will still be unable to initiate the attack on the Powder Gangers or speak to Hayes about the attack at all until the one is given the choice during the quest (this also mean the player character cannot complete this quest if they are hated by the Powder Gangers).
- After the traveling merchant has been revealed, his name will change to bounty hunter.
Behind the scenes[]
- This quest is a reference to the song of the same name by Sonny Curtis & the Crickets, more famously covered by the Bobby Fuller Four in 1965,[1], the Clash in 1979 and Green Day in 2004.
 | The following is based on Fallout: New Vegas cut content. |
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- A number of cut and partially completed dialogue options exist which point towards the final portion of the quest having had additional options for helping out. In particular, a number of incomplete topics would have allowed the Courier to offer suggestions as to how Eddie could better defend the facility, including posting more guards and placing snipers on the guard towers.
- The Courier was also being given the option to free Chavez from the prison.[2]
| End of information based on Fallout: New Vegas cut content |
|---|
Bugs[]
Completion of this quest in favor of the NCR will not register the proper result. Even though one will have gained the fame for success, Mr. New Vegas will report the mission as a failure, as will the ending narration. [verified]- Sgt. Lee may freeze on the steps to the admin building and will not finish dialogue - thus preventing NCR fame. Shooting the weapon out of his hand (which will turn Lee hostile) but then holstering your weapon immediately (which will return Lee to turn friendly) will unfreeze him. [verified]
- If the player character passes the Intelligence or Speech check to make the bounty hunter admit he is there to collect Powder Ganger bounties, the question "So what are you still doing here?" will still be available. If selected, he will answer, "Uh, you know, just filling up water and stuff." This response is in support of his cover story rather than the truth he has just admitted. [verified]
- The explosions that opened the entrances for the NCR troops will not detonate mines or C-4, giving an easy way to finish this quest however one will gain infamy from the NCR. [verified]
- The script for this quest is set up to despawn the NCR troopers after 3 days and turn off the alarm but neither appears to occur. The alarm can be turned off using the console command NCRCFAlarmRef.disable.[verification overdue]
