
The kennel can’t be opened for now, and it’s actually a separate challenge that we can get to in a little bit. Just head back to the right when you’re ready. It will be friendly and should follow you just fine, and provide minor support. If you wish, you can make your own cyberdog using the splicing machine. Keep your distance and use something with a high damage per shot to tear him up. The splicing lab is down the left side of the main lab, so backtrack out if you want a quick companion.

Note that you can get a holotape off of the operating table which will let you splice a dog and a robot.

If you can keep away from their flamethrower, it’ll be easy. Any energy weapon or rifle should be able to break through their shell and take them down quickly. The path to the right will take you into two orderlies, which are just mister handy robots. Regardless, get your weapon out and push up the steps and into the facility. The survivalist’s rifle is particularly good, for anyone lucky enough to be coming from Honest Hearts before this. I had luck with the proton axe, the sonic emitter and just about any rifle that I had on me. Decent armor shrugs off most of the damage, it’s not hard to move around them and they’re fairly vulnerable to most weapons.

I only ran into a few lobotomites and a couple of nightstalkers and cyberdogs near the entrance. This is a fairly straight shot, and it doesn’t seem to be too dangerous of a walk along the way. Also, if you let to scavenge, note that there are tons of cigarettes inside the lab, so it may be worth it to leave some extra space for the cartons. Unlocking the sonic emitter’s ability to break these will let you loot more effectively as you explore the Big Empty. This is a good one to do quickly, as several of the other research labs are locked off with force fields.
