Corporal William Farber is a mess officer for the NCR Army stationed at Camp McCarran in 2281.
Background
Cantankerous and maligned, the corporal is the Camp McCarran mess officer, responsible for cooking, preparing and serving meals to the NCR troopers stationed at the base. Recently, Farber has been struggling to maintain an acceptable quality for his dishes, as it is hard for him to secure a reliable supplier of fresh meat, although he has an abundance of vegetables. Moreover, the cook's food processor has broken down, which does nothing to help his situation. This has made Farber suspicious of health inspectors, whom he has been having trouble with ever since he started to have problems with depleting stock and failing machinery.
Interactions with the player character
Interactions overview
| Interactions | ||
|---|---|---|
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This character is essential. Essential characters cannot be killed. | |
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This character is a permanent companion. They grant the - perk. | |
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This character is a temporary companion. | |
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This character starts quests. | |
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This character is involved in quests. | |
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This character is a doctor. |
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This character is a merchant. |  -Sells: Food |
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This character can repair items. | Max Repair condition: - |
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This character can modify weapons. |
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This character rents beds. | -.
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This character plays Caravan. | They can bid caps. |
Quests
- Not Worth a Hill of Corn and Beans: Farber needs his food processor repaired as well as some spices to make meat taste better.
- Poor Meat Never Makes Good Soup: Farber needs to diversify and needs a reliable source of meat.
- Gland for Some Home Cooking: Farber has heard of Ruby's casserole and would like to sample it.
Effects of player's actions
- He will give the Courier a discount on his wares if they can fix his food processor.
Inventory
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items | On death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merc grunt outfit Bandana |
- | Pork n' Beans | - |
Notes
- He carries a large stock of purified water (50 bottles), as well as a large stock of certain other food items.
- The first time the Courier talks to him, he mistakes them for an NCR health inspector who scammed him recently for 50 caps.
- Even if the Courier is female, Farber will still mistake them for a male health inspector.
Appearances
William Farber appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.
Behind the scenes
His dialogue line "You can order anything you want. As long as it's corn or beans." is a reference to Henry Ford's famous answer when he was asked why Ford manufactured only black cars: "You can buy your car in any color you want, as long as it's black.”
Bugs
For some reason, he sometimes lacks any items or caps in his shop inventory, even after a supplier has been found. [verified]- A bug can occur when you try to speak to him that will cause the camera to zoom in as if you were going to speak to him but no dialogue options are available and then the camera will zoom out as if dialogue has ended even though you have not spoken to him. There is currently no known way to fix this. On the PC version pressing tab will fix the bug until the player tries to speak to him again. [verified]
- Farber will not take the food additive from your inventory, if you try to give him BEFORE speaking with Fitz. You can use setquestobject efae0 0 command to make the Food Additive a non-quest item. [verified]
- It is possible to not receive XP points even if you pass the Speech check (60) with Fitz. [verified]
- It is possible to have the food additive stuck in your inventory, with Farber's dialogue options remaining as if the quest is still going, even after fixing the food processor and making a deal for meat. [verified]
- Farber will indirectly misgender female characters by stating that they 'look like a man that shook him down'. [verified]
