Wasteland remastered walkthrough part 11: Sleeper Base and Project Darwin

If you missed it, go back to part 10 for Las Vegas and the sewers. Sleeper base and Project Darwin are so intertwined I felt it was best to do them both in the same part.

Once you leave the sewers after rebuilding Max, you’ll find yourself out in the desert once again. Walk over to the mountains in the north east and you’ll find a place that didn’t previously appear on the map.

The entering screen makes this point the first time you go in:

After the first time, its name – Sleeper Base – will come up instead.

This place is abandoned – almost. A few creatures and robots still lay in wait for you. This base is very different from any other environment you’ve seen. Although in ruins, it is technologically advanced, with none of the century-old grime that pervades the towns you’ve visited to date.

On the first level you will find a couple of Secpass cards. These are very important, do don’t drop them! While exploring the base you should find A Secpass 1, Secpass 3, Secpass 7, and Secpass A.

Also on level 1 is a Library that will let you learn one very important skill: Clone tech.

Level 2 has its own treasures. A room you can’t get into (yet) along with a bunch of clone pods. Also there’s a helicopter training simulator. One lucky party member at a time can go in and learn how to fly a helicopter, Matrix style.

On level 3 you’ll need to split the party, with one person staying near the power generator, and the rest of the party making their way through an otherwise unnavigable corridor. Turn the power on, and you can use your Secpass A to open the doors.

Turn the power back off, and you can safely walk through the environment rooms. Once you reach the final room and defeat the defence systems, there’s a safe to crack. If you don’t have the Safecrack skill, now is a good time to learn. Go back to the general libraries on level 3. In the safe lies a plasma coupler, which you can use to turn the power back on on the clone pod level.

Cloning is a straightforward process once you get the pack back on level 2. You’ll need one jug per team member you want to clone. Cloning is not essentially to complete the game, but it is a way of getting more than 4 rangers in your party. Sick of NPCs disobeying you at key moments? Then cloning is for you.

Having decided to clone, I recommend a final visit to the infinity roof in Quartz. Get that experience up a high as you want it to be before you clone.

Use your Clone tech skill to keep the chemical balance where it should be. Then select to use a manual fluid receptacle. That will be the jug. After that, produce the clone fluid and have the party member you want to clone pick up the fluid. That party member can then enter a pod with their fluid and be ejected. You even get your jug back! Do this as often as you like, but there are only 4 pods, so this is the maximum you can clone at once.

It takes a couple of in-game days for the clone to ripen (is that the word?), so take a tour of the Wasteland. When you return, your clone is ready for action.

Project Darwin

Once you’ve been through Sleeper Base, and noted that one room on level 2 you can’t get into, it’s time to visit Project Darwin.

As the same suggests this can be found in Darwin Village, at the south end of town. Darwin Village doesn’t have too much else to recommend it. The Black Market is useful, and there’s a couple of very sick men in the Gila Tavern.

Go next door to the lab and you can mix fruit with chemical to make an antitoxin.

There was a reason to keep some fruit from the Agricultural centre after all.

One dose will heal each man and they will both offer to join you. Personally, I prefer clones.

Most of the other buildings in Darwin Village can’t be entered at all, s let’s head to Project Darwin. That new Secpass 7 will let you in the door, and inside the scenery is very similar to Sleeper base. The main difference is that this place hasn’t been wrecked.

It is empty though. An exit to the south west will take you to a blasted, Mars-like wasteland full of terrible creature. Don’t go there. If you do, work your way around to the right, it’s basically a large, L-shaped area filled with ravening beasts.

Take the elevator located to the west up a level to a large room. A door to the south leads you into Finster’s office.

This guy clearly hasn’t been winning friends; he seems to be the only person in the facility. Finster will tell you what he’s doing – using robots to replace humanity. He’s also been creating strange new animals to inhabit the earth to come. Okay. Then, he tells you to leave but does nothing to back this up.

If you return to the elevator there’s a lower level you can visit, using the password of Proteus. Down here is a prisoner behind a cell door. Blow down the door and the man runs away.

If you return back up to Finster, he is unhappy you’ve released his prisoner and attacks you.

Once dealt with, Finster’s android head is in your hands, and it’s time to visit the Android Link room to the east.

Only once person can enter the mind link, and this person needed to have at least 1 level in Cyborg Tech skill. If no one has this, take a quick trip back to Sleeper Base. Your chosen character should have high Luck, Strength, and IQ stats, and be at full health.

Once your chosen person enters, they are in the mind maze, and there’s no helping them.

Finster’s Mind Maze

The mind maze is a series of puzzles which can only be completed by one party member. When you solve the puzzle (or defeat the foe) in each room, you can move on to the next.

The first two rooms are simple number sequences. Give the next number in the sequence to advance. For the first room the answer is 32. In the second room the answer is 512.

In the third room a monster appears but it won’t attack you. Ignore it and proceed to the exit, where the answer is 20.

The fourth room is a teleporter maze. Get yourself to the top left corner and start using your INT attribute. You will be teleported through the maze step by step, just keep using the attribute even if it takes a couple of tries. At the exit, give the answer of ‘Finster’ to proceed.

The next room contains a spider, with a web blocking your way through. Using your Strength attribute is the best way to break through. You don’t have to fight the spider if you don’t want to. The answer to leave this area is ‘nothing’.

The next room is sort of laid out like a baseball diamond. Step up to the plate and have a go. In this walkthrough I hit a home run first time – the benefit of having a high Luck attribute. Once you hit you can proceed.

The next area features coloured walls which you have to use your Strength to break through. You’ll have to fight two Finster androids after each wall but they are easily dispatched.

In the area after this a pair of Finster androids attack together and hit harder. Once you’ve killed the androids, one of their heads asks you a riddle. The answer is ‘iceberg’.

Next area and Finster’s voice warns you that your party will be killed if you travel east. Head straight south instead and nothing bad happens to anyone.

In the next area you hear the rest of the party talking over your body. Your life signs are failing and they are about to unplug you. Continually use your INT attribute to affect the EEG readings so they understand you are still alive and fighting. You’ll need to do this several times before you can pass to the final area.

In this area you face the biggest, toughest Finster android yet. I used my Proton Ax to dispatch it, but it still took many hits to fell the creature. This Finster drops a Secpass B, a very useful item.

With that, the Mind Maze is complete. Note there is one way the party can help whoever is in the mind maze. If that player ever gets knocked unconscious by a Finster android, the party can repeatedly camp before using View to switch back to the mind maze. Camp enough and your player will be healed enough to carry on through the maze. Useful to know, in case it comes up.

Secpass B has a couple of uses. The first is to open the weapons room on level 2 of Sleeper Base.

It takes a few goes to smash the glass, but the effort is worth it:

The meson Cannon is the best energy weapon in the game, and the suits of armour in there give you a nice boost for the fight to come at the Guardian Citadel.