Surprise! Fallout 76 Has Just Released The Steel Dawn Update

By Jason Nieva @jnievaplayerone Published 11/25/20 EST

Fallout 76 gave everyone an early Christmas present as it dropped the Steel Dawn Update a week ahead of schedule. The new update signals the return of the Brotherhood of Steel to Appalachia. Expect to meet new characters, explore new locations, and of course, take on a new questline. This update also brings with it the C.A.M.P. Shelters feature along with other improvements.

New Questline

As mentioned, the update offers new locations while also updating some of the existing ones. There’s also new characters that include Paladin Rahmani, Knight Shin, and Scribe Valdez.

In order to start your journey on the new questline, just head on over to Fort Atlas, also known as the former ATLAS Observatory. You will receive the “Welcome to the Neighborhood” quest, which is how you will know that it’s time to head on over to Fort Atlas. In addition, characters that are at least level 20 can start the quest immediately.

Of course, a new questline wouldn’t be as tempting without the rewards. Progressing through the questline and completing Daily Ops lets you earn a wide range of C.A.M.P., cosmetic, and item rewards. You also get the chance to earn these weapons and armor:

Crusader Pistol
Plasma Cutter
Hellstorm Missile Launcher
Brotherhood Recon Armor

Once you get these items, you can buy mods for them from Regs over in Vault 79 using Gold Bullion. The mods can change each weapon and allow it to deal different types of elemental damage.

C.A.M.P. Shelters

The update also now allows players to go underground with their C.A.M.P. These are instanced interiors that can be added to a player’s C.A.M.P. Here are some details on this new feature:

A brief new quest called “Home Expansion” has been added to the game.
- All players need to complete this one in order to get access to the C.A.M.P. Shelters feature. The quest can be started by:
  - Reading a Shelters Claim Center poster in Train Stations throughout Appalachia.
  - Finding your way inside the Claim Center by locating a key in the northern Forest region.
Three C.A.M.P. Shelters are introduced and each offer a different sized space to build in as well as feature their own styles and layouts. The rooms are:
- Vault Utility Room
  - This can be claimed at the Atomic Shop for free once the “Home Expansion” quest is completed.
- Vault Lobby
  - Available to Fallout 1st members this month.
  - To be made available to all players at a later date.
- Vault Atrium
  - Can be purchased using Atoms.
  - To be made available at a later date.
Once a player claims a C.A.M.P. Shelter, they can access its interior by building the associated Shelter Entrance in their C.A.M.P.
- The C.A.M.P. can contain one of each type of Shelter that a player owns and multiple Entrances can be built to the same Shelter.
- To find the available Shelter Entrances, just scroll to the new “Shelters” category in the C.A.M.P. Build Menu.
  - Then choose the preferred Entrance to build and head inside.
Every Shelter has its own build budget that’s separate from the main C.A.M.P. and other Shelters built by the player.
- Shelter interiors can be saved as players' build.
  - This means player’s won’t lose anything if they relocate their C.A.M.P., move their Shelter Entrances, or if their Entrances get destroyed.
Since they are instanced, Shelters are able to offer sizable build budgets.
- Each of the first three Shelters have larger budgets than the main C.A.M.P.