So I was travelling near Jacobstown, and I had a random train of thought hit me. Why is there a Vertibird refueling depot in the game? I mean, the Vertibird was even, MAYBE Alpha phase before the War, and the Enclave to our knowledge had no base of operations in the Vegas area, yet the depot is hidden perfectly with the land akin to what a Pre-War bunker would be like. My question is how did the Enclave manage to build one of these in the area in the first place?

Some cans stash in the hidden bunker?

Remember the army/government have enough interest to build the Hidden Valley; not to mention they would want an outpost to responds to any undesired outcome/gather samples from the Vaults.

No no no. Not Hidden Valley. I was referring to

Other than a plot device used to move Gannon's questline along, I can't see any reason for it.

Is it even of Enclave origin? To me it looks more like pre-war nuke silo that the remnants refit for their purposes.

It's a well-concealed bunker hidden deep in the mountains. It would be an ideal backup command post, if the Enclave's main facilities came under attack; ideal for hiding important hardware or high-ranking personnel. And it served its purpose, years after the Enclave's defeat; it allowed the Remnants to hide a load of hardware, and a vertibird, right under the NCR's collective nose.

The Enclave could've built it before the Chosen One destroyed the oil rig. My theory is that the Enclave built it as a Base Of Operations/Fueling Depot for the Mojave area/Western Nevada/Eastern California. Basically the Enclave would've used it as a staging area for the vertibirds/troops as they went East. I'm guessing after the Chosen One destroyed the Oil Rig the remaining Enclave made a decision to abadoned their mission and the base for now. I'm guessing some of the Enclave went East and eventually made it to the Capital Wasteland, others like the Remmants just stayed in the area, the rest went back to the NCR and tried to blend in and live a normal life or wait for a day in the future where the Enclave could rise up again.

If I recall, vertibirds were being used very effectively and exactly like the capital wastland ones during Operation:Anchorage, correct me if Im wrong but weren't they american army inventions in the first place and the Enclace just used them for their own purposes as they couldn't have "built" them as the NCR has a small fleet of them to do things like fly the president around.

Wikia says this:

Martyr, stop skimming people's post.

What I am saying is that the US government deem Mojave one of the safer retreats, that it is possible they have quite a few things lay down. And you can stash jet fuel just like petrol in a can...well, maybe with an injection hose or two.

My thoughts on the remnants bunker:

1. I'm not sure it was built pre-war as its specifically stated to be a Vertibird refueling bunker, and the vertibird wasn't created till the post-war era.

2. I think its actually part of a system of refueling stations which are designed to give the Enclave more range with its vertibirds.

If it was built pre-war, then its possible that there are installations like it scattered across the United States in key strategtic locations to facilitate Enclave travel. This could better explain how the Enclave got to the East Coast (with Verti's), amoung other things.

Its just a pre-war bunker. Enclave moved in. Enclave would have some idea of what pre-war installations were around. Or simply the remants came across it.

Vertibirds were created after the great war? Thats news to me :ermm:

Look at my wikia quote

Well... it's a mystery really; I would have hazarded a guess that it was built by the pre-war Enclave to assist their post-war interests, why else would an essentially automated refuelling station be out in the middle of knowhere, hidden infact. The presence of the Enclave Vertibird already in there however confuses me, Dr Henry went with the Remnants to the Mojave, as he has a password; however, he was a deserter way before the Oil Rig destruction even. The fact that he met up with the Remnants can only suggest to me that they left on foot from Navarro and maybe found Henry at a wayward station, suspicions of his rather specific and technical expertise having been aroused by the NCR, whom were seeking Enclave refugees, and hm having fled to avoid capture.

So my question is less, why is the bunker there, instead, hod did the bird get there?

Vertibirds are pre-war. Not that new ones arn't being built. Vertibird fueling stations would be spaced out across America before the war. Some secret some not. Military today have secret bases an bunkers all over. Sure the Enclave could have set up in advance. I am going to go with "they came across it and moved in." Maybe they had some idea it was there from their records.

The Chicago base might not be much bigger.

If Vertibirds arn't from before the war, then that makes me hate the Enclave in Fallout 3 even more!

F3 says nothing more than that the Vertibirds were designed to enter operational service until 2085, cleary prototypes and such existed before the Great War.

That could be that type of Vertibird. Ones in Fallout 2 look very different then the ones in Fallout 3.

How did the Enclave build so many of them then? I was going under the idea they had them stored their. "This isn't adding up!"

Fallout 2 only has what three Vertibirds? and that includes the crashed one.

I would put that down to artistic licence, I refuse to believe that there are two completely seperate models of bird, regardless of what the Vault hypothesises; just because they look different doesn't make them so.

Let's not dwell on another F3 related mystery :rollseyes:, the evidence from Fallout 2 is that they probably were pretty standard aircraft pre-war and the Enclave simply stocked up; though I don't find it ridiculous that the Enclave simply developed the Vertibird's themselves or it at least stockpiled those completed.

Also let's not bring in the count of Vertibirds in Fallout 2, I believe that the Restoration Mod added the one in Navarro outsiide of the hanger, as it could be used in one of the earlier versions. But yeah, we all know that everything in the early Fallouts was scaled down due to engine constraints, kind of at a loss why you mentioned it to be honest.

2 in Navarro, the crashed one in klamath, one in the Salvatore mission, that makes atleast 4.

Vertibirds would be pre-war. I doubt the Enclave would set up bases for them like the one in New Vegas in advance of actually having vertibirds. I guess it has to be put down to artistic licence for the way they look.

I would not call it a Fallout 3 mystery so much as a Fallout 3 canon/logic mess up. Logic and evidence would show Vertibirds are pre-war. Enclave had them stashed in Fallout 3. They could have the ability to build them but not in the numbers seen in Fallout 3 and in only 30-35 years.

Things may have been scaled down in Fallout 2 but the impression was that they were not a very large faction. A very powerful one yes but not in large numebers. Navarro Only had the two Vertibirds. The Oil Rig could have had alot more but they went up in the blast.

What ever it was that said it was to be built in 2085 could just go down as another type of vertibird. Vertibird 2.0 if you will.

There is also one on top of the rig, unless that roof and/or the bird was added by the restoration project as well.
Out of my 5+ times beating fallout 2 I finally used the elevator in the first room (where you fight Horrigan) by the stairs for the first time on my current playthrough.

The ones used in FO2 are "transport" models, the "gunship" model was introduced in FO3. The Oil rig was said to be able to "mass produce" them.

Lore puts Vertibirds, as in very early prototype stages at the time of the war. Since they are VTOL the bunker could just as easily been a Helicopter base. The Vertibird in the bunker is the pilot girls. I would guess then moved it there when they found the bunker, to keep it hidden.

Of course they are old sport, nothing has disputed that; I see no reason why the Enclave wouldn't have built an infastructure pre-war whilst they still had the capability, we are operating on the assumption that they stockpiled Vertibirds for post-war use? Then it only makes sense for the Remnan's Bunkerto be apart of that plan surely.

The massive numbers of anything Enclave in F3 deserves a topic all on it's own, not here, we've discussed it before though and no reasonable conclusion based on previous evidence can be garnered in my opinion; I find it pleasing though that it was F3 itself that shot itself in the canonical foot so we can't be hit with the old, "Fallout Dinosaurs, old [censored] forgotten, who cares," arguement.

It was a display at the Technology Muesum in D.C. beside a model of F3's Vertibird, I suppose it could be rendered as simply incorrect infomation as it is a public display.

@Dustin, indeed it was.

@Andius, that is what the Vault says but I refuse to believe that the Enclave produced an entirely new fleet at Raven Rock, they are not refered to as different and are merely artistic licence in my opinoin.

They could just be a upgrade. Slap on some more armor, enclose the cockpit and add guns and so forth.