Wasteland 2 Guide: Assist Santa Fe Springs, Secure Perimeter

Continue your journey with Prima’s free Wasteland 2 Guide and Walkthrough.

Assist the Santa Fe Springs Ranger Base

Upon landing in Los Angeles, head forward and to the right from your camera’s starting angle. You’ll run into a man surrounded by Nuke Pooches. You’ll automatically get pulled into the encounter, so just take the dogs out as quickly as you can. Once that’s done, talk with the lone survivor, a man named Dave, to learn more about what happened. He’ll tell you to go check on LT. Woodson. He’ll also mention that you need to secure the perimeter of the base if you want to stop more dogs from coming in. You can use your Surgeon skill on Dave if it is high enough for a more in depth piece of conversation.

First, let’s check on Woodson. Head up the path, past the rickety old car near Dave and around the first building you see. There should be a second building with conversation bubbles popping out of it as Woodson yells for help. Head towards the eastern side of the building to find the entrance and get pulled into combat with a couple of Nuke Pooches. Take the dogs down and head further into the building to meet Woodson. He’ll mention getting the radio back online as well as tell you to check back in with Dave to let him know he’s OK. Before you continue securing the perimeter, go ahead and check in with our other friend and let him know that Woodson is fine. 

Now head back past the radio building. In order to secure the perimeter, you’ll need to do two things. First, you’ll need to kill any dogs that have already gotten inside. Second, you’re going to need to patch up any holes in the fence to keep more dogs from coming through. To do this second part, you’re going to need boards, which you can grab from the pile of lumber just at the corner of Woodson’s radio building.

With lumber in tow, continue along the path until you come to a pack of dogs. Take them down and then use one of the boards to fix the hole in the fence. Now head west up the path along the fence until you meet up with second group of dogs, as well as a second hole in the fence. Take the pooches down and repair the hole before continuing on. The third hole is located near the gate that you’ll use to enter the Wasteland. To find this, follow the path around until it veers in two directions. Head down the eastern facing path over the spilled water and follow it until you see the dogs around the front gate. Take them down and repair the fence before heading back the way you came. Once you return to where you veered east to reach the main gate, head up the part of the path you haven’t explored yet. Kill the dogs ahead and patch the hole in the fence by the ruined old car, as well as the hole in the fence down the southern path. With the holes patched, you’ll be called back to base by Woodson after he’s fixed the radio.

After listening to the radio broadcasts of the different groups in the area, as well as having your final conversation with Dave, Woodson will give you new instructions based off of Dave’s plan. You need to Scout the other groups within L.A. and see how dangerous they are. The people of L.A. also need to be made aware of how much the Ranger wants to help, so you’ll need to answer any calls for assistance that you can. You’ll also need to upgrade your rad suits and re-establish communication with the Ranger Citadel in Arizona. Woodson will give you three Repeater Units, one of which is a main quest item. The other two can be used to expand the Ranger’s broadcasting range in Los Angeles so that you can help more people. 

Once you have your party ready, it’s time to head out into the L.A. Wastelands and see what kind of trouble you can stir up.

Side Quest: Salt Lake Park

Upon receiving a radio message to help a farm being attacked by mutant creatures, head towards the marker indicated on your map. Enter the instance and continue along the path of dead cows. Once you reach the fence around the house, ignore it and instead head further around the path to run into the creatures you received a call about. Be careful, as these creatures have over 200 HP each. Once they are dead, grab one of the animal parts from the loot and head back down the path to the gate in the fence. The man inside won’t let you in, but he’ll offer to trade with you via bucket line if you provide a down payment of gear and money. Offer him proof that you’ve taken care of the badgers in order to trade without a down payment. 

Now that this area is clear of mutant enemies, head back down the path towards the World Map entrance. You’ll encounter a group of robots that will attack you. Defeat them before continuing back into the Wasteland.

Continue just north of Salt Lake Park on the World Map to run into a level 5 radiation wall that will spark a radio update with Woodson next time you enter an instance.

Side Quest: Retrieve an Old Farm Woman’s Stolen Cows

Once you receive a radio call to help a small settlement south of the Ranger’s Base, head down to Cerritos. Enter the instance and interact with the woman by the fence to learn that cyborgs killed her husband and took her cows. She’ll mention they headed south. Continue past the woman until you see a corpse on the ground. Examine the corpse and then interact with it to pick up anything he has. Now move past him. You should start to see conversation bubbles pop up as the half robots herd the cows away. Converse with one of them and tell them that you’re the Ranger to spark an attack. Kill them and the cows will return to their field automatically. Chat with the woman on the way out and mention her husband’s rifle. She’ll thank you for not stealing it, and tell you to hold onto it. If none of your team is in need of a new rifle, you can just sell it off next time you meet a vendor.

Side Quest: The Town of Rodia Needs Your Help

At one point, Woodson will call you on your radio and ask that you head back to base in order to meet with a visitor. Head back to Santa Fe Springs and talk with the man standing in front of LT. Woodson to learn that his name is Pistol Pete, and that he is a merchant who travels the wastes. Chat with him until he asks you to help his town, which was taken over by bandits. He’ll even offer to come with you. We accepted the help and headed out of base camp immediately to rectify the issue.

In the Wastelands, head towards Rodia. Enter the instance and step forward a few steps to watch a cut scene. Once the NPCs have all run off, move forward and talk with the large pink bandit. She’ll ask you for 6 bullets per person to get inside. Choose not to pay to enter a combat sequence.

Once the bandits at the gate are down, use Lockpicking on the entrance in order to gain access to the rest of the town. Head inside and kill the enemies just inside the town’s walls. Once they’re dead, take out the two guards by the flimsy gate blocking the two massive radio towers. Defeat several enemies inside and then interact with the small console to bring the cage with the Mayor down. This will spark a fight with another group of bandits. Upon defeating them all, you’ll complete the side quest to save Rodia. If your Mechanical Repair skill is high enough, you can fix the tower’s control panel. Go ahead and fix it now, then use one of your spare Repeater Units on it to expand the Ranger’s broadcasting distance.

Once that’s done, head out of the gate and further into town until Pistol Pete tells you that you’re standing in front of the Mayor’s house. Head inside and into the Mayor’s back office. Interact with him and he’ll ask you to deliver a message to Mr. Manners in Angel Oracle, to let them know that Rodia is ready to trade with them once again.