Caravans
Caravans
The Caravan System allows players to undertake lucrative escort missions across the wasteland worldmap. By interacting with caravan carts located in various towns, players can initiate commercial transport routes, protecting an automated caravan group from hostile encounters as they travel to a designated target location. Completing these runs provides secure financial payouts, valuable trade goods, and character progression.
Overview
The core gameplay loop involves registering a caravan at a town hub, staging the transport party, and navigating sequential coordinates across the worldmap. The caravan automatically moves toward its destination but can be pulled into local encounter zones due to wilderness hazards.
Caravans can be conducted individually or with an organized party. The active pool of caravans is tracked globally, and rewards dynamically fluctuate based on how frequently specific routes are utilized by the player base.
Locations / Availability
Caravans can be negotiated at specialized terminals or cart infrastructure across major settlements. The table below outlines all standard commercial routes available in the wasteland:
| Origin Hub | Destination | Base Reward (Caps) |
| Junktown | New California Republic (NCR) | 560 |
| Junktown | Boneyard | 400 |
| Junktown | Broken Hills | 1230 |
| The Hub | New California Republic (NCR) | 710 |
| The Hub | San Francisco | 1700 |
| Boneyard | Junktown | 400 |
| New California Republic (NCR) | Broken Hills | 620 |
| New California Republic (NCR) | Junktown | 560 |
| New California Republic (NCR) | San Francisco | 1440 |
| New California Republic (NCR) | Vault City | 1150 |
| San Francisco | New Reno | 960 |
| San Francisco | New California Republic (NCR) | 1440 |
| Broken Hills | Junktown | 1230 |
| Broken Hills | Gecko | 700 |
| Broken Hills | New Reno | 610 |
| Broken Hills | New California Republic (NCR) | 620 |
| New Reno | Redding | 530 |
| New Reno | Broken Hills | 610 |
| New Reno | San Francisco | 960 |
| Vault City | Modoc | 530 |
| Vault City | Redding | 970 |
| Vault City | New California Republic (NCR) | 1150 |
| Gecko | Modoc | 610 |
| Gecko | Broken Hills | 700 |
| Modoc | Klamath | 970 |
| Modoc | Gecko | 610 |
| Modoc | Vault City | 530 |
| Redding | The Den | 520 |
| Redding | Vault City | 970 |
| Redding | New Reno | 530 |
| The Den | Klamath | 260 |
| The Den | Redding | 520 |
| Klamath | Modoc | 970 |
| Klamath | The Den | 260 |
Core Methods / Mechanics
Journey Mechanics
- Initialization: Interacting with a caravan manager lets the player and it's party create caravan group and choose a path. Upon confirmation everyone is moved to worldmap with caravan.
- Worldmap Travel: The group transits to the worldmap automatically. The Caravan Leader dictates the travel path, progressing through pre-calculated map waypoints.
- Encounter Transitions: If intercepted by hostile forces, the caravan drops into a encounter map.
- Resuming Travel: If there are no threats and map is secure, speaking to the leader allows the group to transit back to the worldmap to continue the journey.
Turn-In & Completion Rewards
Upon successfully reaching the final destination waypoint, the caravan concludes and distributes the following resources to all participating players:
| Reward Component | Distribution Method | Impact / Scaling |
| Caps | Direct Bank Transfer | Scaled dynamically via Route Frequency Modifiers. |
| Experience Points | Instant Grant | Flat 500 EXP awarded to each player. |
| Trade Supplies | Ground Spawn | Spawns 2 to 4 Box Lifting crates on the destination map. |
Behavioral Modifiers / Traits / Sub-systems
Dynamic Economy Modifiers
Caravan payouts are subject to a market fluctuation system based on supply, demand, and faction control:
- Route Frequency Adjustments: Every time a specific destination route is completed, its value drops after payout, up to a maximum penalty of -50% value. Concurrently, all non-utilized alternative routes across the wasteland see their values gradually recover.
- Town Support Bonuses: Settlements governed by player factions or specific town control status provide a localized payout bonus, which stacks directly onto the caravan's base reward caps.
Caravan Variants & Events
Beyond standard shipping assignments, players may encounter unique caravan variants:
- Standard Caravans: The default transport mode. Spawns 2 Brahmin Carts as cover and environmental objects during combat encounters.
- Gunrunners Convoy: A specialized faction event tracing from the Boneyard to the NCR. The number of spawned Brahmin Carts scales based on defense force size (ranging from 1 to 4 carts), accompanied by a secure Ammo Box. Friendly Fire Reflection is permanently active on these maps.
- Brotherhood of Steel Patrol: A heavily armed, looping deployment operating out of the Brotherhood Entrance. This mission replaces transport carts with a Convoy Hummer and an Ammo Box, supported by 2 Brotherhood Soldiers. This variant features an explicit tactical objective requiring players to eliminate an influx of super mutants, tracking progress via an active Mutants Killed counter.
Leader Archetypes
The automated guide leading the convoy possesses distinct operational traits:
- Standard Leader: Equipped with an Assault Rifle.
- Chuck Lee Variant: There is a rare, randomized 1% chance that the standard guide will be replaced by the unique elite entity Chuck Lee upon departure.
Failures
The success caravan relies entirely on the survival of the convoy guide. If the Caravan Leader is killed at any point during an encounter, the entire caravan run fails instantly.
Upon failure. No rewards can be received.