Ant Misbehavin' is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Side Quest: Ant Misbehavin' | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speak with Raquel at the Nellis Air Force Base. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Optional) Pass a 50 Speech/Science skill check to acquire the sonic emitter from Loyal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reach the Nellis array. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Restart the 2 array generators, then reset the main breaker. | Kill all giant ants directly or using the sonic emitter on the nest. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Optional) Pass a 55 Speech skill check to lie about killing the ants to Raquel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Killed the ants: 400 XP, Boomers fame. Lied to Raquel: 400 XP, Karma loss, Boomers fame. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
After meeting with Pearl upon entering Nellis Air Force Base and triggering the overarching quest Volare!, one of its objectives points to Raquel, master-at-arms for the Boomers who requested help dealing with an infestation of giant ants that has shut down the base's solar panel array providing the tribe with self-sufficient power. While distrustful of outsiders like most other Boomers, Raquel offers to let the player character take care of the problem and suggests talking to Loyal about finding a solution to the infestation, starting the quest. Raquel also warns that previous attempts by the Boomers to get into the array revealed that the ants had ingested amounts of their gunpowder, causing them to explode upon being killed with fire or laser weapons, while conventional ballistic weapons can be used without risk.
Typically found either in the southern of the hangars during the day and in his house slightly northwest of there at night, speaking with Loyal leads to him talking about a sonic emitter that he's whipped up to deal with the ants for good, though he's wary about testing it properly to prevent risk to humans. Passing a 50 Speech or Science skill check allows one to convince Loyal to let them use it at the array; if neither can be passed, then directly killing the ants will be the only option.
The solar array is located on the eastern side of the base, recognizable by the multiple solar panels on top that are involved as part of Sunshine Boogie. The door to the interior where the ants reside is found on the south face and is only unlocked with the key received from Raquel. On the inside, two ants reside in the immediate area near a pair of dead Boomers holding grenade rifles, while more are found both in the upper-level metal hubs and down on the main floor with back-end tunnels. Every ant that must be killed is marked on the compass, but if one was able to acquire Loyal's sonic emitter, it can be used to kill them all at once by being placed on the main nesting mound. The mound (looking like a conical pile of trash about chest high) is located on the main floor of the array, reached by either following the left-side catwalks to a flight of stairs or using a tall stack of yellow metal crates to safely jump down on debris piles. After activating the mound to spawn the emitter, it must then also be activated to kill the ants, which grants cumulative, small amounts of XP as if one had directly killed them. Looking to the left of the mound, one can also find the unique grenade rifle Thump-Thump along with some 40mm ammo.
In addition to getting rid of the ant problem, Raquel also requested that the player character manually restart the array's generator to restore the power. From the ant mound, go to the middle of the main floor and look right, to see a pair of glowing lights where the generator switchboxes are located and must be activated. Next, return to the staircase where the third and final switchbox is found to activate and restore the generators. Then, exit the array and return to Raquel, earning 400 caps and Boomers fame.
The quest can also be completed by ignoring the ants and only turning the array generators back on. Upon returning to Raquel, one can pass a 55 Speech skill check to lie about removing the ants, which garners Karma loss in addition to Boomers fame and XP but still completes the quest.
Quest stages[]
Notes[]
- The giant ants in the array will explode and deal damage to any nearby creatures if killed with certain types of weapons, including: explosives, energy weapons, the ballistic fist, the Ripper, or the chainsaw. Most conventional ballistic weapons appear to be fine, although not in the case of guns from the Honest Hearts add-on. (See the Bugs section.)
- It is possible to shoot and explode the howitzer shells inside the array while killing the ants, which will cause multiple explosions if any ants are killed by it.
- The catwalk is not high enough to avoid the explosion of howitzer shells if one accidentally occurs.
- ED-E's electrical zap melee attack and shots from Arcade Gannon's Plasma Defender ranged weapon also cause the ants to explode.
Behind the scenes[]
The quest name is a reference to the 1929 song "Ain't Misbehavin'" written by Fats Waller and featured in the musical of the same name. While not heard on Radio New Vegas in Fallout: New Vegas, the song would later be featured in Fallout 76 on Appalachia Radio.
Bugs[]
When completing the quest, the terminal near the solar panels seems to magically disappear leaving no trace whatsoever.[verified]- When speaking to Raquel after completing all objectives, the only available option may be "Goodbye" or "See you later," making it impossible to complete the quest.[verified]
- On occasion, the main circuit breaker switch will not register being activated. The switch will move up and down, but the quest will not advance. Using completeallobjectives 1083de gets the Courier past this. For the xbox360, just simply leave the 3 switches alone, then do a quest for the Boomers and return to turn on the switches after the quest is complete.[verified]
- All Honest Hearts guns are confirmed to cause ants to explode, from the .45 Auto submachine gun to the Survivalist's rifle.[verified]
- The Courier receives credit for killing the ants with whatever weapon they currently have in their hands when activating the sonic emitter. Activating the emitter with a one handed weapon equipped counts towards one-handed weapon kills, etc.[verified]
