Industrial site
HELIOS One
An NCR-held pre-war solar plant hiding the ARCHIMEDES II orbital weapon, unlocked during the quest That Lucky Old Sun.
- Region
- Central Mojave
- Faction
- New California Republic
- Danger
- Low
- Map position
- 12 × 12
HELIOS One is a pre-war solar power plant on the highway between Novac and the 188 Trading Post, and the site of a bitter battle in which the Brotherhood of Steel lost to the NCR. Today Lieutenant Haggerty and her troopers hold the plant, with the dubious scientist Fantastic in charge of getting it running and the Followers' Ignacio Rivas quietly watching over the project. The plant produces almost no power, which is where you come in.
That Lucky Old Sun asks you to reactivate the plant, which means getting the mirror field terminals working and fighting through the solar collection tower while robots and turrets try to stop you. At the end you choose where the power goes: McCarran and the Strip, Freeside and Westside, the whole region, or into ARCHIMEDES II, a hidden orbital laser. Arming ARCHIMEDES II does not fire it; you can only call down strikes once you also have Euclid's C-Finder from Max in Freeside. A separate option arms the plant's ARCHIMEDES I security system, which wipes out the NCR garrison.
Dangers are moderate: robots and turrets inside the tower, traps and guard dogs around the mirror field terminals, and the NCR if you turn the plant's defenses on them. A Speech or Science check of 30, or a good NCR reputation, gets you past Lieutenant Haggerty at the entrance, and Science helps with the tower terminals. The plant also has decent loot and a fair amount of scrap. For NCR-friendly players, sending power to McCarran and the Strip earns NCR fame, while powering the whole region pleases the Followers.
How to get there
From Novac follow the road north toward the 188 Trading Post; the mirror field and tower of HELIOS One sit beside the road.
Related quests
- That Lucky Old Sun
- I Could Make You Care
Notable characters
- Lieutenant Haggerty
- Fantastic
- Ignacio Rivas
Tips
- A high Science skill helps with the terminals in the solar collection tower and the dialogue with Fantastic.
- Arming ARCHIMEDES I wipes out the NCR troopers; send power to McCarran and the Strip if you want NCR fame.
- Euclid's C-Finder, needed to aim ARCHIMEDES II, is carried by a boy named Max in Freeside.
Collectibles and items here
- Easter egg HELIOS One reflector passwordsThe passwords for the eastern and western reflector control terminals at HELIOS One are written in hexadecimal; the note with them lies upstairs in the main building.
- Holotape Poseidon Energy employee ID cardIn the solar collection tower, past the second Mister Gutsy on the top floor. At the second stairwell past the cots take the room to the right at the bottom, go right down the corridor, then left into a room full of crates. It is on the floor by a skeleton in the southwest corner.
- Key Eastern reflector control terminal passwordCarried by Ignacio Rivas at HELIOS One. He hands it over when you offer to help, or it can be pickpocketed.
- Key Eastern reflector control terminal passwordOn the desk in Ignacio Rivas's bedroom upstairs in the main building: from the entrance go right, through the pool room and up the stairs. A D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine lies on the bed in the same room.
- Character Lieutenant HaggertyAt HELIOS One.
- Character FantasticAt HELIOS One. After That Lucky Old Sun he can be moved to Hoover Dam.
- Character Ignacio RivasAt HELIOS One.
- Quest item Solar array partsFive broken panels lie on the ground between the rows of working reflectors at HELIOS One: one near the tents behind the western terminal, three along the outer row and fence, and one by the tents near the eastern terminal.
- Side quest That Lucky Old SunLieutenant Haggerty stops you at the NCR checkpoint by the main entrance on the south side of HELIOS One. Fantastic inside can also give the quest.
- Skill book D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine (Medicine)HELIOS One, upstairs in the main building. The book is lying on a bed in the same room where the east terminal password is found.
- Skill book Big Book of Science (Science)HELIOS One. This copy is a quest reward from Ignacio Rivas for distributing power to the entire grid (Full Region option) during That Lucky Old Sun, not a world placement.
- Skill magazine Fixin' Things (Repair)Solar collection tower: go down a set of stairs on the north wall to the table next to a toolbox, near a Mister Gutsy.
- Skill magazine Programmer's Digest (Science)Inside the solar collection tower, in the north section next to a ruined terminal.