Fallout New Vegas Wild Wasteland trait

The Fallout New Vegas Wild Wasteland trait adds a range of new encounters and locations that give you new weapons and gear. It also just makes your journey a little bit odder overall.

Essentially some wacky moments and surprises can only be found if you have Wild Wasteland perk. It isn’t going to seriously change your gameplay experience in terms of plot except for certain weapons appearing or dissapearing depending on if you have it - you can read our Fallout New Vegas Unique Weapons guide for more in to there. Otherwise, let's take a look at everything the Fallout New Vegas Wild Wasteland trait will get you.

Alien Ship

Location: Mojave Wasteland, North of Horowitz Farm

Remember those wacky aliens that stole you up during the events of Mothership Zeta? Well it seems like a bunch of them are hanging out in the northernmost parts of the map and they totally have some sweet equipment for you to loot. Most notable amongst these is the Alien Blaster, a very powerful energy weapon that can cut through anyone foolish enough to stand in your way while also being lightweight.

To get the Alien Blaster the Wild Wasteland perk changes the landscape of the area a short ways north of the Horowitz farm. The farm is found along the road northwest of New Vegas, namely Westside, so it isn’t easy to miss. Without the perk there’s a mercenary camp but with it you will see a spaceship parked on an upper ledge and three aliens around a campfire.

Holy Frag Grenades

Location: Camp Searchlight, Southern church basement

These incredibly destructive weapons are held in a heavily irradiated area, Camp Searchlight. You'll need a ton of Rad-X and Rad-Away, and a Radiation Suit if you can find one to reach it . Travel from Nipton to the east, past the crossroads, until you reach the radiated military base. Make your way from the camp to the church to the south, near the Fire Station.

When you reach the church go down into the basement where a pair of Golden Gecko’s will attack. Be careful as they can do a lot of damage and it’s a small space to fight in. Once they’re dead you can find these grenades on the table. These things act like mini-nukes so be REALLY careful when throwing them.

Suave Gambler Hat

Location: Mojave Wasteland, South of Goodsprings

From the town of Goodsprings head southeast along the road. You will see a refrigerator lying a short ways off of the road, noticeable by the white box standing out against the browns of the Wasteland. In the icebox you will find a unique hat, the Suave Gambler Hat, alongside a curled up skeleton that was once an intrepid adventurer.

For those who are blissfully unaware, this is a reference to the infamous refrigerator scene where Indiana Jones hides inside of a lead-lined refrigerator to escape a nuclear bomb.

Rodents of Unusual Size

Unlike most of the other Wild Wasteland events this one can happen in multiple different locations. However, a quick location for you to visit to see this is either the sewers under New Vegas or, a bit trickier to survive but quicker way to encounter this, by going into the Broc Flower Cave here:

As soon as you enter the cave you will hear the sounds of the Wild Wasteland trait going off. This can be kind of confusing as you don't have anything to indicate what prompted the sound. So keep moving deeper into the caves, taking the right path down into a cavern area to find the Rodents of Unusual Size. They’re essentially just harder versions of the Giant Rats you normally fight in these sorts of locations. While not that difficult they can pose a problem for low level characters as they do a good bit of damage. But once you get to higher levels you’ll see that they don’t really stand up too long in a straight fight. Unless you get swarmed.