Viva: Fallout New Vegas/ North Vegas/ Boomer/solar array/ Ants Misbehavin/ Ultra HDR DTS Episode 26

After meeting with Pearl upon entering Nellis Air Force Base and triggering the overarching quest Volare!, one of its objectives points to Raquel, master-at-arms for the Boomers who requested help dealing with an infestation of giant ants that has shut down the base's solar panel array providing the tribe with self-sufficient power. While distrustful of outsiders like most other Boomers, Raquel offers to let the player character take care of the problem and suggests talking to Loyal about finding a solution to the infestation, starting the quest. Raquel also warns that previous attempts by the Boomers to get into the array revealed that the ants had ingested amounts of their gunpowder, causing them to explode upon being killed with fire or laser weapons, while conventional ballistic weapons can be used without risk. Typically found either in the southern of the hangars during the day and in his house slightly northwest of there at night, speaking with Loyal leads to him talking about a sonic emitter that he's whipped up to deal with the ants for good, though he's wary about testing it properly to prevent risk to humans. Passing a 50 Speech or Science skill check allows one to convince Loyal to let them use it at the array; if neither can be passed, then directly killing the ants will be the only option. The solar array is located on the eastern side of the base, recognizable by the multiple solar panels on top that are involved as part of Sunshine Boogie. The door to the interior where the ants reside is found on the south face and is only unlocked with the key received from Raquel. On the inside, two ants reside in the immediate area near a pair of dead Boomers holding grenade rifles, while more are found both in the upper-level metal hubs and down on the main floor with back-end tunnels. Every ant that must be killed is marked on the compass, but if one was able to acquire Loyal's sonic emitter, it can be used to kill them all at once by being placed on the main nesting mound. The mound (looking like a conical pile of trash about chest high) is located on the main floor of the array, reached by either following the left-side catwalks to a flight of stairs or using a tall stack of yellow metal crates to safely jump down on debris piles. After activating the mound to spawn the emitter, it must then also be activated to kill the ants, which grants cumulative, small amounts of XP as if one had directly killed them. Looking to the left of the mound, one can also find the unique grenade rifle Thump-Thump along with some 40mm ammo.