Base Cochise

Base Cochise is located at the far northwest corner of the map. Unprepared Rangers entering Base Cochise (that is, without at least Pseudo-chitin armor and Energy Weapons) will be eradicated by incredibly lethal robots before they even get close to breaching the doors. Base Cochise can be entered only with the proper Secpass, which can be obtained at the Sleeper Base.

How Do I Get There

Decisions, decisions! You can get to Base Cochise via two main methods:

• Walking up to the front gate and knocking (entry will require use of the Picklock skill or Demolitions (TNT, Plastic explosive, LAW rocket, Sabot rocket, or RPG-7), plus Secpass B (found in the Inner Sanctum of the Guardian Citadel).
• Flying the Helicopter from the Inner Sanctum of the Guardian Citadel (requires Helicopter pilot skill - trainable at Sleeper Base Level 3 in the simulator). Note: repairing the simulator will require the use of a Rom board, which you can loot from one of the groups you fight just outside the main gate of Base Cochise. (So, I guess they want you to take a stab at cracking the outer defenses before you helicopter in?).

If you aren't sure about your party holding up against some of the toughest baddies in the game, you might want to take the helicopter route, at least, if you find that the Guardians aren't as tough as the Cochise robots. The helicopter will knock out some of the perimeter defenses on the way in, and you can enter from the roof. Then again, if you're looking for a good scrap, you might want to walk up and crawl the perimeter instead, and soak up all that high-value experience!

Gaining Access

Once you've reached the base, if you're going though the front gate, you'll need to pick a lock or two, and then use Secpass B to get past the second gate. After that, climb the ladder down into the base. You'll be in a big room with escalators in front of you (the one on the right takes you up, the one on the left takes you down. You can either go forward and talk to the computer, or go down the hall to the right or left.

The Computer

The wall ahead of you is alive with red and green LED's flashing in waves from top to bottom and side to side. A computer terminal stands before you. It is operational, but nothing is on the screen.

You may communicate with me if you wish, but understand. My mission will not fail.

You may ask the computer questions from an open prompt. Any response it does not have an answer for, it will say, "Trouble me not with trivialities!" (I guess some of Irwin John Finster's abrasive personality rubbed off on the mainframe during its programming! It will answer some questions about Finster, but be warned: if you type "BREAK", you will get the following message, and then be dumped down into a locked room at the back of the hallway in Level 2.

Ha! Such a simple trick was not meant to work on me. But here is my trick for you! You find yourself suddenly falling through a long slippery tunnel.

After this point, you won't have a chance to talk to the computer again: attempting to walk up to its panel will just give you the option of going downstairs again. Also, if you go back upstairs, you'll find the Laser Pod Blasters and Threshing Crawler and a few other baddies have respawned up there. To get past their destroyed bodies at the ends of the hall, you'll have to use explosives.

Going Deeper

If you want to skip talking to the Base Cochise mainframe, at either end of the hallways to the east or west, you'll spot a panel which sounds hollow. Use a Crowbar or Strength to pull the panel off, and go on down. Don't worry, it's easy to get out - simply jump into the field in the room to the north of where you end up.

Getting Vax

If you want to recruit Vax, arguably the toughest NPC in the game, you can do so in the first major area past the hollow panels. Extend the bridge to cross the radiation pit, then look for a control panel that has an open command prompt. Type "RUN" and select the administrator bot rather than the Hunter or Killer - Vax will appear and you will be given a chance to hire him! Even if you don't want Vax in your party, he comes with a Laser rifle and Power armor as well as a spare suit of Pseudo-chitin armor and some Power packs, so it might be worth it to get him just for his loot if you don't have a stuffed roster!

Exploring for 1st Timers

You will find that the base is a tough nut to crack without a party fully equipped with Power armor. Unfortunately, you'll find that the Guardian Citadel only had 5 suits of Power Armor in their Rosebud Vault. However, there are another two in the area you find after breaking open the hollow panels. Follow the winding corridor past the room you can get Vax in until you come to a room with a locked door full of Octotrons and a loot bag. That loot bag has two more suits of Power armor!

You will probably want to take the base in sections, taking breaks between each. Even in Power armor, you can still be hit badly enough to be reduced to Serious or worse condition. To avoid getting into a situation where your party is half-unconscious, make sure to break off and rest or visit a clinic every now and then to replenish your health. Lots of times, the difference between a reasonably tough fight and a nightmare situation is the buffer of full hit points!

Notable Loot

• Power armor - x2 suits in back room of Level 2 guarded by several Octotrons
• Power armor, Laser rifle, several Power packs - on Vax (recruitable NPC)

Easy Experience Grinding

Kills made with melee weapons give double experience. Assuming you've recovered both Proton axes and your party is fully equipped with Power armor, your party can go toe-to-toe with the robots, especially with high Brawling skill. Don't have high Brawling? Buy a bunch of Spears, stand 20 feet away from Brother Goliath at the Guardian Citadel and keep on chucking spears until you get your Brawling skill up to 7 (high Luck helps). If you don't want to cheat, and don't have enough Proton axes to go around, outfit the rest of your party with Chainsaws, assuming you want them to do any damage.

There is a spot on the 2nd floor in the robot manufacturing room with the locked terminals where you get Vax. Go to the NW (upper left) corner of the room and unlock the terminal, which will tell you that there's a 99% complete robot inside. Now stand by the terminal and hit the ESC key to wait. Enemies must spawn within line of sight, and in that corner, the only two spaces that are within line of sight are the two adjacent spaces. Therefore, enemies will spawn within melee range, meaning you don't have to spend a few tedious rounds running your party through laser fire to get close enough to engage. You will get thousands of experience points from these fights.

Destroying the Base

To destroy Base Cochise, you'll have to take the ladder down from the room where the electric field is (right near where you end up when you go through the hollow panel). After beating the four rooms full of dangers (one with slippery pipes and boiling oil, one with electricity, wind, and freezing temperatures, one with land mines, and one with sentry bots that attack you) and opening the door at the end of each one, you'll open up a ladder heading down into a central room.

Just outside of this central room, you'll find four Particle Beam Gattlin, one in each corner waiting to wipe you out. Fortunately, at most, only two can attack you at once. After defeating the 'Gattlins', you'll find that there are four rooms sealed by doors which must be blasted (you'll need Plastic explosive, Sabot rocket, LAW rocket, or RPG-7 to break through), one off each corner of the area outside of the central room you came in. Each room has different dangers.

The NW room (upper left) is full of radiation! It might be best to attempt this at night so you can simply avoid the radiation spots and not have to switch to a comparatively flimsy Rad suit. You'll need to blow the door; once through, avoid the radiation and go to the glass-steel wall to the east (right) of the door. Blow the wall, and approach the console. You'll need a Plasma coupler to restore power to the building. Once that's done, the room in the far NW (upper-left) corner will open up. This station requires the Blackstar key.

The NE room (upper right) is the Robot Repair room. The conveyor belt is weak in the NW (upper left) corner of the room. Smash it with something, and then head over to the NE corner to the key station. Use the Nova key to activate the station.

The SE room (lower right) is the Security Electronics room. Blow the door and walk on in. This room has some computer panels you can mess with if you want to try to reduce the security interval etc (great place to train up Electronics skill - you can play with the panels repeatedly until your skill goes up); the key station in the SE corner requires the Pulsar key.

The SW room (lower left) is the OSHA room. This room is full of hidden robots that will jump out and attack you - this can raise your Brawling skill if you have high enough stats. Otherwise, you may get into a fight with a Silver Strangler. At the end of the room where the key station is, you'll face off with a Fusion Octotron. The key stand requires the Quasar key. Once all four keys are in, you'll be prompted to activate safety procedure #1324-666.

Safety Procedure #1342-666

OK! Now that you've turned the keys in the stations, you get sealed in with a small control panel with four lights blinking out of sequence - Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. The order is in the code itself - #1 is Red, #3 is Yellow, #4 is Green, and #2 is Blue.

You'll need to disband three party members to go to three of the rooms, and have the rest of your party go to the last room. Once you're in, have them activate the safety procedure. The first one will be the NW room (radioactive area) - hit the Red button to activate Phase 1. Use the View function to switch to the party in the SE room (security electronics) and hit the Yellow button to activate Phase 2. Use the View function again to switch to the SW room (OSHA room) and hit the Green button to activate Phase 3. Finally, use View to switch to the last group in the NE room (Robot Repair) and hit the Blue button to activate Phase 4 and initiate the base's self-destruct feature!

Now, you have a limited time to get out of dodge! Use the View function to gather all of your party members together into one group and get the heck out! Once out of the base, you'll get a cutscene and a big lump of experience, but you'll no longer be able to hunt high-experience robots in Base Cochise!

Gallery

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Encounters

Robots don't like humans very much (except when using them for target practice).

Pic	Name	Location	Type	Exp. Pts.	Maxcon	AC	Skill	Damage	Weapon type	Range	Group
	7mm Vulcan Cannon	Base Cochise	Robot	1000	25-125	9	30	14d6+3	Automatic	Med	1-3
	Chopter	Base Cochise	Robot	540	15-75	8	0	12d6	Automatic	Med	1-10
	Fusion Octotron	Base Cochise Level 4	Robot	4290	97-487	10	30	19d6+3	Automatic	Med	1-3
	Gauss Needle Projector	Base Cochise	Robot	3900	97-487	9	30	13d6	Automatic	Med	1-3
	Hunter	Base Cochise Level 2	Robot	720	20-100	8	30	12d6	Automatic	Med	1-5
	Hunter	Base Cochise Level 3	Robot	720	20-100	8	30	12d6	Automatic	Med	1-5
	Hunter	Base Cochise Level 4	Robot	810	22-112	8	30	13d6	Automatic	Med	1-5
	Killer	Base Cochise Level 2	Robot	900	25-125	8	30	13d6+2	Automatic	Med	1-4
	Killer	Base Cochise Level 3	Robot	900	25-125	8	30	13d6+2	Automatic	Med	1-4
	Killer	Base Cochise Level 4	Robot	900	25-125	8	30	13d6+4	Automatic	Med	1-4
	Laser Hypermortar	Base Cochise	Robot	3850	87-437	10	30	10d6+5	Automatic	Med	1
	Laser Pod Blaster	Base Cochise Level 1	Robot	650	12-62	12	30	10d6+5	Automatic	Med	1
	Laser Pod Blaster	Base Cochise Level 4	Robot	650	12-62	12	30	10d6+5	Automatic	Med	1-2
	Laser Pod Blaster	Base Cochise	Robot	2200	50-250	10	40	15d6+2	Automatic	Med	1
	Life-seeking Flamethrower	Base Cochise	Robot	800	20-100	9	30	15d6+5	Automatic	Med	1-3
	Mk 10 Turbo Meson Cannon	Base Cochise	Robot	1500	37-187	9	30	12d6+3	Automatic	Med	1-3
	Octotron	Base Cochise Level 2	Robot	1100	25-125	10	30	11d6+10	Automatic	Med	1-3
	Octotron	Base Cochise Level 3	Robot	4290	97-487	10	30	11d6+10	Automatic	Med	1-3
	Particle Beam Gattlin	Base Cochise Level 4	Robot	1650	37-187	10	60	17d6+5	Automatic	Med	1
	Plasma Constrictor	Base Cochise	Robot	2750	62-312	10	3	18d6+4	Melee	Melee	1-4
	Silicon Sniper	Base Cochise Level 1	Robot	825	18-93	10	30	13d6+2	Automatic	Med	1-5
	Silicon Sniper	Base Cochise Level 2	Robot	825	18-93	10	30	13d6+2	Automatic	Med	1-5
	Silicon Sniper	Base Cochise Level 3	Robot	825	18-93	10	30	13d6+2	Automatic	Med	1-5
	Silicon Sniper	Base Cochise Level 4	Robot	825	18-93	10	30	11d6+2	Automatic	Med	1-5
	Silicon Sniper	Base Cochise	Robot	750	18-93	9	30	13d6+2	Automatic	Med	1-7
	Silver Strangler	Base Cochise Level 1	Robot	825	18-93	10	1	13d6+12	Melee	Melee	1-3
	Silver Strangler	Base Cochise Level 2	Robot	825	18-93	10	1	13d6+12	Melee	Melee	1-5
	Silver Strangler	Base Cochise Level 3	Robot	825	18-93	10	1	13d6+12	Melee	Melee	1-5
	Silver Strangler	Base Cochise Level 4	Robot	825	18-93	10	1	11d6+12	Melee	Melee	1-5
	Silver Strangler	Base Cochise	Robot	750	18-93	9	1	13d6+12	Melee	Melee	1-7
	Sonar-targetted Proton Carbine	Base Cochise	Robot	900	22-112	9	30	12d6+5	Automatic	Med	1-3
	Stainless Steel Flechette rifle	Base Cochise	Robot	1500	37-187	9	30	10d6+2	Automatic	Med	1-7
	Steel Reaver	Base Cochise Level 1	Robot	1760	40-200	10	30	12d6	Automatic	Med	1-4
	Steel Reaver	Base Cochise Level 2	Robot	1760	40-200	10	30	12d6	Automatic	Med	1-5
	Steel Reaver	Base Cochise Level 3	Robot	1760	40-200	10	30	12d6	Automatic	Med	1-5
	Steel Reaver	Base Cochise Level 4	Robot	1760	40-200	10	30	15d6	Automatic	Med	1-5
	Steel Reaver	Base Cochise	Robot	1600	40-200	9	30	12d6	Automatic	Med	1-7
	Threshing Crawler	Base Cochise Level 1	Robot	1880	58-293	7	3	17d6+5	Melee	Melee	1
	Threshing Crawler	Base Cochise Level 2	Robot	1880	58-293	7	3	17d6+5	Melee	Melee	1
	Threshing Crawler	Base Cochise Level 3	Robot	1880	58-293	7	3	17d6+5	Melee	Melee	1
	Threshing Crawler	Base Cochise Level 4	Robot	2080	65-325	7	3	18d6+5	Melee	Melee	1
	Threshing Crawler	Base Cochise	Robot	1880	58-293	7	3	17d6+5	Melee	Melee	1
	Titanium Clawer	Base Cochise Level 2	Robot	630	17-87	8	3	12d6+12	Melee	Melee	1-5
	Titanium Clawer	Base Cochise Level 3	Robot	630	17-87	8	3	12d6+12	Melee	Melee	1-5
	Titanium Clawer	Base Cochise Level 4	Robot	630	17-87	8	3	14d6+12	Melee	Melee	1-5
	Titanium Clawer	Base Cochise	Robot	630	17-87	8	3	12d6+8	Melee	Melee	1-10
	Vanadium Vulture	Base Cochise	Robot	720	20-100	8	2	17d6+7	Melee	Melee	1-10
	Vax	Base Cochise Level 2	Robot	825	18-93	10	30	13d6+2	Automatic	Med	1-7
	VTOL Auto-fire Robot	Base Cochise Level 1	Robot	1080	33-168	7	30	13d6+5	Automatic	Med	1-3
	VTOL Auto-fire Robot	Base Cochise Level 2	Robot	1080	33-168	7	30	13d6+5	Automatic	Med	1-5
	VTOL Auto-fire Robot	Base Cochise Level 3	Robot	1080	33-168	7	30	13d6+5	Automatic	Med	1-5
	VTOL Auto-fire Robot	Base Cochise Level 4	Robot	1080	33-168	7	30	14d6+5	Automatic	Med	1-5
	VTOL Auto-fire Robot	Base Cochise	Robot	1080	33-168	7	30	13d6+5	Automatic	Med	1-10
	Wire-guided Anti-personel Missile	Base Cochise	Robot	900	22-112	9	30	13d6	Automatic	Med	1-3
	Xenon Laser Cannon	Base Cochise Level 2	Robot	3250	62-312	12	30	14d6	Automatic	Med	1
	Xenon Laser Cannon	Base Cochise Level 3	Robot	3250	62-312	12	30	14d6	Automatic	Med	1
	Xenon Laser Cannon	Base Cochise Level 4	Robot	3250	62-312	12	30	16d6	Automatic	Med	1
	Xray Laser Projector	Base Cochise	Robot	2900	72-362	9	30	16d6+7	Automatic	Med	1-3