Hephaestus Research

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Hephaestus ResearchUncontrolled zone

Old research lab, now used for... other purposes.
Empty dread.png
Dungeon information
Music Cornered
Located in Upper Caves
Areas East side (outer facility)
West side (inner facility)
Connections Upper Caves
NPCs Brady, Protectorate Heavy Gunner, Protectorate Shock Trooper, Worker
Technical
Map file(s) lux-b1
lux-b2

Hephaestus Research is a dungeon in upper caves. It can be found by heading north from GMS Compound in Lower Underrail, then entering the caves by breaking some rocks and going one zone south or by entering the caves in GMS Compound itself on the first floor, going east, then north and then west. The research lab is however accessible only during and after Find Hephaestus Research Protectorate faction quest.

Description

Hephaestus Research was a large and advanced research center dedicated purely to robotics. They developed robots for various different roles including military, industrial and medical. It is said that important progress was made there, but it was all forgotten when Biocorp fell apart.

Right before the earthquake at the beginning of the game, Protectorate had dispatched an expedition to Hephaestus Research in hopes of finding advanced robotics technology to use against the Faceless.

Outer Facility

The facility can only be entered by ducking under the half shut gate. Both switches on the outside and inside the facility are stuck and are of no use. The facility is

  • Once inside, the dead man can be inspected for the Protectorate Insignia oddity, 3 xp
  • A shelf contains a Fancy Lighter oddity, 2 XP
  • A Box can be opened with 60 Hacking on the room with the busted electronic lock, the barrel next to it will contain an Old Lamp oddity, 2 XP
  • Inside a desk on the south-eastern room there will be the Office Keycard (Hephaestus Research), That will unlock Office 3. On the same room there will be a locker can tan be opened with 80 Lockpicking
  • A glitched terminal on Office 3 can be used to unlock the gate where the unmanned Protectorate Dreadnought is stored. A crate with varied munitions and a box unlockable with 85 Hacking will be located near it, alongside a Jackhammer
  • Office 2 contains a locker that can be unlocked with 50 Lockpicking
  • The elevator at the center of the outer facility will be permanently unpowered
    • the Protectorate Dreadnought's drill can be operated to destroy the rocks blocking the entrance to the inner facility to the west. Despite its arsenal, the Dreadnought can interact with doors and terminals as usual, so it can be used to explore further. However, in order to use hacking devices or lockpicks, it must be dismounted first

Inner Facility

  • A terminal in the immediate room can be used to open the gate to the facility, The desk next to it will contain an Old Train Schedule oddity, 1 XP
  • On the other side of the southern wall, there will be a box with a Super Steel Refining Data USB
  • On the southern end of the facility a fence can be opened with 85 Lockpicking, inside there will be various shelves and lockers, one of them containing a Strange Comm Device oddity, 1 XP
  • Break the rocks on the southern area of the facility to find Brady and the survivors of the crew, in order to set them free, all the Burrowers and Spawns of the inner and outer facility bust be dealt with. Inside the room there will be a barrel with a Encyclopedia Fragment oddity, 1 xp
  • Once the crew has safely escaped, report back to Colonel Cathcart

Enemies

Hephaestus Research houses perhaps the largest Burrower infestation in the entire Lower Underrail. The facility is completely overtaken by Burrowers and their Spawn, with massive numbers of them residing in the inner facility. They found their way in after the earthquake. This is also the few areas where player can encounter Burrower Warriors outside the Hard and Dominating difficulties

Quests

During the Protectorate questline, the player is tasked to find Hephaestus Research and the lost Protectorate expedition.

Map Gallery