Exhaustive Wasteland Walkthough, v1.0 By Ben Morgan Introduction ------------ Okay, Wasteland is the greatest CRPG ever written. However, it seems unlikely that there will be a sequel, or even a remake. Electronic Arts is holding the rights to the game, as well as Bard's Tale, and they are curently sitting on it, for what reason, no one knows. Anyways, this game takes place after World War ]I[, and your characters are a band of intrepid Desert Rangers. You start out at the Ranger Center, in the bottom right of the desert map. IMPORTANT!: Always save after leaving a shop. Due to the nature of the autosave, if you leave a shop, then get attacked and die, the saved game location will be in the shop, and when you load it up, it kills the shop. I learned this one the hard way in Highpool, but it could happen anywhere, and if it happens in a place like Darwin or Needles, kiss your chances of winnig the game goodbye. Creating Characters, or: The Great Desert Ranger Surplus Scam ------------------------------------------------------------- You start with four prefab characters. These guys are hopeless. First thing you do is trade the guns off of the last three characters to one guys, then delete the rest. Create one character, rerolling the stats until you get an 18 in IQ. This will get you the most possible starting Skill Points. Important skills for all characters: Assault Rifle SMG Medic Important skills for at least one character each: Climb Swim Perception Picklock Safecrack Cryptology Back to the guns: Once you've created your dudes, drop all items except the guns, the canteens (canteens are important for crossing hot spots in the desert), the ropes, and at least one crowbar. This includes ammo. Then set up a macro to create a dummy character, trade off the gun to one of your dudes, and delete the dummy. Then fill all your dudes up with guns. When your first three dudes have as many guns as you can carry, create your last dude, following the above rules. Then go to Quartz. Quartz ------ Go straight to the Quartz Emporium in the bottom left corner of Quartz. Sell off the guns and get M19 rifles and tone of 7.62mm ammo. Invest in Bulletproof vests. Highpool -------- The first place to go is Highpool. Search around, and you'll find the shop. Picklock the door to the office (or use a crowbar), and you'll find out some things about the water cooler, Billy's dog, and various other bits of useless information. Go to the bottom left corner of Highpool, and talk to Billy. Ask about Jackie, the cave, and his dog. Look for the cave on the left side, between 2 trees. Use Perception, then a rope. Billy's dog has rabies, so put it out of its misery. You'll find Jackie near the back of the cave, on the left side, behind the rocks. Bring her out, and relieve her of her stuff before you drop her. You can kill the kids, and if you kill them in the right combo, Red Ryder will come after you. He doesn't have anything useful, the Red Ryder Range Model Air Rifle cannot be obtained legally. Killing everyone off doesn't affect the rest of the game at all, but Highpool had the cheapest doctor of anywhere. The Abandoned Mine ------------------ Don't go wandering around in here until you have decent armor and automatic weapons, the monsters here are tough. In the little room near the entrance, there's some Little People, who don't like you very much, and some stuff you can sell. Rail Nomads ----------- Talk to the Brakeman when you enter, he'll tell you to go see Head Crusher in Quartz. He'll give you a Visa Card. Give the Visa Card to Head Crusher, in the bottom right table in Scott's Bar, and he'll tell you the password. Go to the leftmost tent and give the password. He'll give you a shovel, and directions. Follow the directions, and dig. When you grab the stuff, the raiders will come out. Kill them and grab the stuff. The guys in the rightmost tent won't understand a word you're saying. If you're feeling evil, give the password to the middle tent, and you can wipe out the Topeka clan. Killing women and children was never so much fun. Guardian Citadel ---------------- Don't even THINK about trying to get into this place yet. You can use it as a shortcut to Quartz, as long as you stay outside the little flags. Quartz ------ Sell off all the extra stuff you got at the Quartz Emporium, and pick up two Snake Squeezins. Go to Scott's Bar. Check the bathrooms, Laurie's brother will give you the clue to the barmaid's password. Talk to the riddler at the top left. Answer his riddles. Talk to Ellen, over at the bar. Give her the password, and she'll give you Room Key #18. Don't try to get on the stage, you'll get stuck. Go to the Stagecoach Inn, and open Room 18. Talk to Laurie, and get the stuff. Get a passkey, and open the other rooms. There's some stuff around. Open Housekeeping, and get the Chemical, and the Servo Motor. You can use the secret entrance to the Courthouse (give the bums the Snake Squeezins), or through the front door (use the password Laurie gave you). Kill everyone. Go to the third floor, and kill the guard. Get the sonic key. Now go back to the second floor. On the second floor, use the password and go to the right. Make sure you have a character with Silent Move in the first slot when you go in th door. Pick up Dan Citrine, and head for the third floor. The password to the Hideout is on a piece of paper in the desk in a room on the left. On the third floor, use TNT to open the cells. The mayor is in the top right, and Dan's father is in the bottom right. Grab the $1000, then drop Dan. You can rest in the garden on the second and third floor without being attacked. Anywhere else, and watch out. Go to the Hideout. Kill EVERYONE. Sit in front of the map on the wall, and wait. Eventually, the safe will come up. Use the combo you got from the triplets in the courthouse (11-16-27). Ugly John will try to make a deal. Refuse. Kill him and his guards. Use Bomb Disarm twice on Felicia, and use the Plastic Explosive to open the vault. Rescue Ace from the cell in the basement (use a Mangler to open). Use the mayor and his wife as extra inventory slots, grab everything you can to sell off later. Sell everything you can't use, and drop the mayor and Felicia. You've pretty much finished Quartz. On to Needles. Needles ------- You can hoof it to Needles, or take the jeep. Don't bother trying to fix it, it's a rip, and it'll only get stolen once you get to Vegas. Head for the Ammo Dump, and grab everything. Take the ring to the detective at the police station, he'll give you background on the Bloodstaff. By the way, any Bloodstaff you pick up anywhere in Needles is a fake. There's a table in the basement of a building north of the Hobo Dog stand that will verify the authenticity of any Bloodstaff. If you have Howitzer Shells and AT Weapon Skill, use them on the Howitzer. Aim SW, High, and then run to the Hobo Dog stand to watch 'em bleed to death. Pick up Christina at Downtown Needles, and check out the waste dump. You'll pick up two NATO's and two Rad Suits, but you'll need a couple of TNTs to blow open the doors, and watch out for the Pit Ghoul, he's a bitch and a half to kill. Bring the Ruby Ring to the Mushroom Church, and he'll tell you to go get the Bloodstaff. Load up on epuipment at Leroy's (you will be living out of this shop for the next few towns). This is also a great place to rest. The Temple of Blood is in the NW section of Needles. Watch out for the radiation, aproach the place at night. There is nothing special in the garage, from what I can tell. Watch out for the robots. Head to the left, and free the hobo from the laser to get more inventory space. There is a launch code written on one of the empty chairs in the sanctuary. At the game grid, use trial and error to figure out the proper path. The answer at the end is 30. swim across to the island, and rest. Take out the snipers at each corner, and grab the stuff. All your characters should have automatic weapons by now. Rest up before you blow open the door. Be sure to jump over the plate, or you'll be in a world of shit (because Desert Rangers are not allowed to die without permission!). When you get attacked by the first wave, have your characters attack the odd numbered groups, and fire full auto. The battle should be over in two rounds. Kill everyone. Nuff said. The Blood Priest in the inner room will have the real Bloodstaff. Keep it safe. Grab everything you can carry and head back to the dock. Bring the Bloodstaff back to the Mushroom Priest, and he'll give you stuff. By now you should all have NATOs, except for one, with an AK97. Now you can operate with 7.62mm exclusively (for a while). In addition, all your dudes should have armor 4 or better. There is a superloot bag in the Acapulco club, for those of you who need to cheat. The password is ACAPULCO. I'm not sure exactly how to get it, but it has something to do with playing poker at one spot, but not taking the loot, then playing poker at the oterh sopt, or somethign like that. Go back to the first bag, and it will appear empty. Hit down until the superloot starts to come up. Happy hunting. Highpool -------- If you didn't kill everyone in Highpool, you can use the engine to fix the water purifier, and get some stuff (by now, it's not worth it). Ag Center --------- Try the Ag Center now, with automatic weapons. It's easy target practice. Las Vegas --------- Watch out for robots in Vegas. There is a bum in a house near the bottom right who will give you the password to Fat Freddy's casino. Fat Freddy will ask you to take out Faran Brygo. Agree to it. Go to Spades casino and talk to Crumb to find out Brygo's password. For fun, slaughter everyone in the casino. To get to Brygo, you have to kill Scorpitron in the center of town. Hope you held on to those LAW rockets and grenades. Attack it from the south, resting behind the southeast building just before. This is, without a doubt, one of the most annoying fights in the whole game. Brygo's place is to the east of Scorpitron. Give the guard the password. When you get into Faran's office, attack. Follow him through the secret exit. Kill everyone. There is a secret panel in the sauna. Use Cryptology on it, and grab the loot. Faran is about to leave through an exit in the SW. Kill him. Take the ring back to Freddy, who will promptly attack you. Kill him and take his stuff. There is a building near the center of town with insects and a Proton Axe in it. Head for the Mushroom Temple on the east side. This is not to be confused with the Mushroom Church in Needles. Blow the doors off the main hallway open, and grab the loot. You should all have NATOs, and Rad Suits or better. Kill everyone (do you see a pattern forming here?). You can blow up the reactor if you want, but it's usually more trouble than it's worth. The Sewers ---------- In the Mushroom Temple, look for the wall on the left side with the weird keyhole. Use a sonic key, and break into the sewers. Use a rope to cross the water, and later to cross the chasm. There will be several fights here that will be totally frustrating. Among these are Tronosaurus, and Centron Deluxe Models. Save often. There are sections where the walls sound hollow. Use a shovel here (macros are wonderful) to tunnel through. You can rest safely while sitting in a tunnel, or on a rope. Clear out the sewers, and collect all the hardware you can find. By the time you get to the lab in the second section, you should have at least: 1 Android Head 1 Fusion Cell 1 Power Converter 2 ROM Boards 4 Servo Motors Put Max back together following the instructions, and find out where the Sleeper Base is. Darwin Village -------------- Watch out for the bad guys here, they're tough (10 Base Policemen!?!). The password for the weapons shop is CRETIAN, but it's easier to just kill the guards. Mad Dog Fargo and Metal Maniac are sick, and need Antitoxins to revive them. You can synthesize them in the spare room, on the table. Mix Fruits and Chemicals. They're okay, and not as trigger-happy as Christina. Sleeper Base ------------ There's not a lot of fights here, and you can rest anywhere. You'll find Secpass 1 in the rubble in the top left room. Secpass 3 can be found in one of the small rooms. Get some stuff from the locker in the room on the right, and get someone with high DEX to grab the Power packs (actually use the attribute) the corner of that room. Level 2 has the library, the doctor's office, and the cloning facilities. Cloning is a fairly intuitive process, just follow the instructions, if you have are so inclined. Secpass A is on a desk near the top. In another room, there's a box with a bunch of Rad Suits (I've seen as many as 10 before). There's also an armory on the east side. Grab all you can and sell it off. On Level 3, there is an office, in which a desk holds a Power Covnerter and Secpass 7. I advise setting up macros for each of the passes, so they're easier to use. This will probably require reordering your inventory. It's worth it, trust me. Use the Power Converter on Level 2 to fix the Power Conditioner. Then go back to 3 and turn on the power. Leave someone there, and take everyone else back to the office. There's a secret door. Switch back and forth, turning the power off to allow the party to cross the electrified floors, and back on when you want to open a door. Kill the robots and use Safecrack to gt the Plasma Coupler. Use a ROM board on the door, and try the Helicopter Simulator. Usually, one of your characters will get it. If not, try again later. Project Darwin -------------- Open doors with Secpass 7. The password for the lower level is Proteus. Free all the prisoners, then visit Finster. Kill him, and get his head. Use it in the Cyborg Interface, and dive in. Finster's Mind Maze ------------------- Answer 32 for the first bridge, 512 for the second. Ingore the monster, you can't kill it. Answer 20 for the next bridge. For the Arrows maze, get into the top left corner, then keep using INT on the square you're standing on. You'll start jumping around. Keep going until you hit the bottom left corner. answer FINSTER for the next bridge. Kill the Lie Spider, then use Strength to break the webs. NOTHING is the next answer. For the baseball puzzle, run the bases, then use LUCK where you are. Break the walls with STR, and kill the androids. In fact, kill everything. The answer to the next bridge is ICEBERG. When faced with a choice, it doesn't matter which way you go. Use INT to break out. Kill Finster yet again, grab Secpass B and leave. Sleeper Base ------------ Use Secpass B to open the secondary vault, with the pseudo-chitin armor and the energy weapons. Then it's on to the Guardian Citadel (it's about time!). Guardian Citadel ---------------- KILL EVERYONE. Brother Goliath has a Pulsar Key. The Quasar Key is in the museum. After killing Brother Austin and looting the armory, you should have laser rifles or better (1 Ion Beamer, 2 Meson Cannons). The second level is pretty much the same as the first. The Blackstar Key can be found in a statue on the right side, and the Nova Key is in a bed on the laft side. Open the portcullis, and head for Level 3. Clear out the prison in the upper right, get a second proton axe, and free Redhawk. Don't give him anything, because he will NEVER trade anything away. Take him to the Savage village, and give the password REDHAWK. Talk to the old man about Base Cochise. Drop Redhawk here. Third Level: The password to the vault is ROSEBUD. Break down the fence with the proton axe, and get in the helicopter when you're sure you're ready for the last section of the game. It's a one way trip, so make it count. Be sure to bring at least one Rad Suit with you. You will need it. Base Cochise ------------ Incidentally, you can walk to Base Cochise, but I wouldn't advise it the first time. Let the helicopter take out all the outside defenses first. Use a LAW on one of the canopies, then a rope to drop inside. Use another LAW on the loose panel on either side, and slide down. Second Level: After the bridge, you'll find the robot factory. at the leftmost terminal, type RUN, then hit Admin. Pick up Vax, he's here to help you. Break into the vault in the top right, and kill the Octorons. By now everyone should have Power Armor, and as much ammo as they can carry. Go back to where you came from this level, and open the door to the little room. From here you can exit (which wouldn't be very smart), or you can go to the next level. The third level is a series of tests, nothing too complicated. The first is simple, just walk across the pipes. The second one, just watch out for the land mines. For the third one it's best to disband one dude and walk across the weather plates. When he passes out, have the others rest. The last is a combat simulator. The only problem is theyre using live ammo. Self-explanatory. Fourth level: Kill the four gatlings, and head to the right. Open the Security Room, and find the Security Interval Terminal. Use Electronics skill to reduce the interval. Head to the top right room (repair center). Find the "very delicate" console, and smash it with a LAW. Disband someone with the Blackstar key, a Rad Suit, a LAW, and a Plasma Coupler, and send them to the room on the top right. Wear the rad suit so you won't have to worry about the radiation. Smash the glass wall, and install the plasma coupler. Go to the little room in the corner. Send someone with the Nova Key to the top right room. Send someone with the Pulsar Key to the bottom right room. Send everyone else to the OSHA room on the bottom left. Insert the keys in the following order: Blackstar, Nova, Pulsar, Quasar. Hit the Door lock. Press the buttons in the following order: Top left, Red. Bottom right, Yellow. Bottom left, Green. Top left, Blue. The escape pod is just north of the ladder you came here from. NOW GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE!!!!! Fire full auto at anything that moves. If you make it outside, radio and get your reward. You can keep playing, or save it and restart the game with the same characters. Whatever you want. Any other questions, email me at: benm@cnct.com