Camp McCarran

Camp McCarran is the NCR's largest base in the Mojave, built inside the fenced-off ruins of the old McCarran airport south of the Strip. The terminal building holds Colonel Hsu's office, the OSI science lab, an interrogation room and jail, supply rooms and, upstairs, the monorail station that runs straight to the Strip. The old concourse next door now serves as trooper barracks with a dining area and medical station, and the parking lot outside is full of tents and firing ranges. Troopers, rangers and First Recon snipers are everywhere, and the base is safe if your NCR reputation is decent.

This is one of the busiest quest hubs in the game. Colonel Hsu and Lieutenant Boyd deal with the interrogation of the captured centurion Silus and the sabotage plot in I Put a Spell on You. Major Dhatri hands out the Fiend bounties in Three-Card Bounty, Dr. Hildern of the OSI sends you to Vault 22 in There Stands the Grass, and Sergeant Contreras runs a quiet black market. Corporal Betsy's story and the First Recon squad also start here.

The main dangers are around rather than inside the camp. Fiends raid from the South Vegas ruins to the west, and the run-down El Rey Motel just west of the gate is full of chem addicts. Inside the walls, keep your weapons holstered and avoid stealing from the quartermaster. Use McCarran as a base: it has beds, vendors for weapons and ammunition, and once you are allowed on the monorail it saves a long walk through Freeside when you are heading to the Strip.