Locations Certain locations in the game serve different purposes than your regular towns. In addition, certain locations can be created with the instance system.

Locations

These are accesible to any player either from the world map or via contextual means.

Replication stations

Replication stations are used in game as a lore tool for the respawn ("replication") system. There are four kinds replication stations.

Paid replication stations, three in total spread across the game world. Their role is being more conveniently placed, as well as offer a trader for the recently deceased to conveniently re-gear before heading back out into the harsh wasteland. They have an outside location accesible form the world map that can be used to pick up the player in a vehicle, however being unprotected such an action can be rather risky.
Unpaid replication "dump", one located in the centre of northern towns. Features a computer with a purpose to sign in an arena match and a variety of means for players to kill themselves and re-roll their injuries. The most awesome of which is jumping off a cliff.
Replication 4, formerly an another replication station, where an equipment malfunction resulted in a ghoul outbreak. The player can be quested in helping with the problem, further purpose of this location needs clarification.
Hell, the special replication station. Located south east of Redding, this place serves for players to work off their negativae replication ballance, as well as their karmic short comings, in a variety in different ways. Once entered, player cant legally leave the depths of hell with a negative replication account.

Radar Stations

These locations, when taken over, provide the player with an unique ability to track the movement of other players across certain portions of the world map. They are guarded with automated turrets.

Base control locations

Three in total, these are used in a base control mechanic, where a faction initiates an event to defend the location for either Brotherhood of Steel of Enclave against the other side. At that point, the group is stormed with waves of increasing difficulty, and gets rewarded by increasingly rare items. These arrive in a trunk of a car. The base control locations, in order of difficulty, are Catherdral, Sierra army depot, and Mariposa military base.

Junkyard

The scavengers heaven, this locations purpose is solely providing materials to scavenge. The area is radiated and unprotected, with some occasional wild dogs, providing slight danger to the mix.

Farm Locations

Two in total, these provide a fighting challenge, rewarding players with glamorous spoils if completed. They have their own respawn countodwn. When this happens, the location dissapears from your world map and needs to be discovered again.

Raiders - The easier of the two confronts players with top tier geared enemies in a rather confined space. The spoils from this location include near top end items, such as medical modules and rare books. Respawns every day.
Novato - Best known as pretty much the only way to earn the top tier equipment, this huge ass location stretching across 28 maps confronts players with increasing challenge, from steroid chumping rats to hard to kill robots equiped with top tier weapontry. Respawning only once a month, it gets farmed out quickly and serves its term as a scavenger heaven.

Atoll

Accesible only using the boat obtained from the sid and nancy quest chain, this oil rig houses a couple of divers and sea rats. It has its own trader and under very unobtainable circumstancies provides GECK.

Carlos Jackal's hideout

Occasionally popping out on the world map, this location serves to reintroduce "lost" items into the game. Completing a moderate fighting challenge, players get the access to his stashof everything they got off dead players bodies in the wasteland.

Whitethorn

The purpose of this location escapes the article creator's knowledge and needs clarification.

The GECK City

Aviable only once per session, the player can use GECK to create his own city and then abandon it for the rest of the session.

Navarro

This location used to serve as a provider for the Navarro farm instace, and is currently closed.

Player housing

(Full Article: Housing ) Under certain circumstances, a player can create a permanent locations for him and his friends.

Instances

Instances are created by the player by contextual means, serve a certain purpose, and have limited life span.

An encounter

The most basic of instances, an encounter is created by the player by encountering something or just simply dropping down from the world map. Encounters tend to be really simple and rarely provide anything beyond what you would expect. The exceptions are:

The encounter might contain an underground area for the player to use as his most basic housing.
The encounter might have a cave entrance that leads the spelunking player into a different instance.
When used the treasure map, the encounter might contain a certain locked container.

Special encounter

Mostly based on Fallout 2's special encounters, these provide certain once-per character occasions.

Guardian portal - Leads into the top level of Vault 13, where you can find a hidden solar scorcher.
Herd of brahmin - Confronts the player with endless waves of exploding brahmin.
King Arthur's Knights - Nothing to do here, expect running thru to get the follow up encounter which rewards you with 15k dollars and a holly hand grenade.
Keeper of a bridge - Contains an old hermit armed with a ripper. Uppon defeating him, the player can loot the Bridgekeeper's Robes off him.
Mad scientist's laboratory - an original special encounter, contains some nice loot along with a machine that turns anything you put in it into random stuff of its weight. Usable only once.
The lone surviving dog - Nothing to do here, really.
Wasteland Children Shelter - As far as i know, this location only serves to distribute a story on a tape.
An abandoned village - Contains a small guns skillbook, a cybernetic brain, couple of weapons, and a ton of crazy.

Quest instance

These are created for the purpose of a quest. The list would be expansive and mostly useless, therefore - WIP.

Farm instance

Full article: Farm instances

Similar to the farm locations, these are generated by players and can be seen only by them. Based on the location itself, it ranges in difficulty and material reward. Both increased by a number of people taking the quest, there might be other factors that require further testing.

Den - The most varied of all these, this quest is accesible to anyone above level 15 from the BOS paladin in Den or BOS encounters around it. It takes you into variety of missions with their own bosses and highly varied loot.
Broken Hills - Acesible at level (?), the player is taken into an underground bunker. Has slightly tougher enemies and better loot than Den missions.
Vault 15 - The russian wiki refferences a farming location obtainable in V15. More information on this is needed.
Navarro - One for the history books, this farm instance contained a high challenge for a high end loot. It has been later downgraded and then removed completely by closing down navarro.