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The Nomad


The Nomad
Type Main Job
Giver Willie McCoy
Life Path Nomad
Region Badlands
Location Yucca, Outskirts
Next The Rescue

The Nomad is the first main job of the Nomad life path, set in the small Badlands town of Yucca, near the border with South California. V has left the nomad family behind to make it big in Night City. To get into the city, V takes a risky job smuggling stolen cargo across the border with a Heywood native named Jackie Welles.

Story

Yucca

V grew up in a nomad clan in the Badlands and has decided to leave it. The job opens in a mechanic's garage in Yucca, where V takes off the patch of the old clan in front of a mirror. The journal sets the scene: every story has to start somewhere, even if that somewhere is a dusty fuel stop in the middle of nowhere. V has come to meet the man who hired V to smuggle something across the border, and the journal promises that this man will change V's life.

The mechanic says the car needs a new part he does not have in stock, though he had told V earlier that the problem was nothing serious. V takes a look under the bonnet and rigs a workaround that will last long enough to reach Night City.

Sheriff Jones

Before V can leave, the local sheriff, Andrew Jones, turns up and asks pointed questions. He says he served in special forces and asks about the nomads in the Badlands. The answers do not matter much, and V drives off once he is done.

V needs to meet a contact to pick up the package. From the top of the town's telecom tower, V reaches Willie McCoy on the radio. He passes on the meeting point: an old trailer on an abandoned farm near the border.

The Border

At the trailer V meets Jackie Welles for the first time. After a short talk, Jackie loads the package into the boot of V's car, and the two drive to the border crossing. The journal describes the moment: a good kid from Heywood, stolen corporate cargo, border guards watching closely, and heat haze on the horizon. To V, this is what freedom looks like.

The border guards order V to an inspection. V goes in alone with the papers, which declare the cargo lost, and a bribe to keep the guards from looking too closely. The guard takes the money, but V has a bad feeling that he knows more than he says. Back at the car, V tells Jackie to drive and get them out of there fast.

The Chase and the Iguana

V's hunch is right. Cars full of pursuers block the road, and V fights them off from the passenger seat while Jackie drives. Shaken, Jackie stops at a deserted garage. When V asks for the fee for the border run, Jackie admits that he cannot pay. He even says that he had planned to cheat V.

Jackie suggests a look inside the package. It holds an iguana. V proposes that they sell it and split the money. The two shake hands, the job ends, and a montage of Night City shows the months that V and Jackie spend working together. The story continues in The Rescue.

The Nomad Map Location and Walkthrough

The Nomad map location:

The Garage

  1. Remove the clan patch in front of the mirror.
  2. Talk to the mechanic, choose to check the engine, and hotwire the car to bypass the broken part.
  3. Get in the car and start the engine until it runs.
  4. Talk to Sheriff Andrew Jones when he arrives. No answer is wrong.
  5. Drive out of the garage.

The Telecom Tower

  1. Drive to the Yucca telecom tower, a short way from the garage.
  2. Kick open the locked gate. Look around for junk and crafting components.
  3. Climb the stairs to the top of the tower and use the control box to connect the radio.
  4. Talk to Willie McCoy. He gives the location of Jackie, whether V tells him the truth or not.

Meet Jackie Welles

  1. Climb down, get in the car and drive to the meeting place. Do not jump from high ground on the way down, as a fall can kill V.
  2. Go into the old trailer and talk to Jackie on the couch.
  3. Follow Jackie outside and open the boot so he can load the package.
  4. Get in the car.

The Border

  1. Drive to the border and wait in the customs lane.
  2. Take the papers when the check starts, and ask Jackie for the bribe money when V is called in for inspection.
  3. Get out of the car and enter the border security building on the right.
  4. Hand over V's weapon at the front desk and go to room 2.
  5. Sit down, hand over the papers and give the bribe.
  6. Collect the weapon at the front desk and return to the car. Jackie takes the wheel.

The Chase

  1. Talk to Jackie as the car leaves the border.
  2. Shoot the pursuers' cars until they are destroyed.
  3. Get out of the car at the deserted garage and talk to Jackie.
  4. Poke the iguana in the package and agree on a plan with Jackie.

Map credit by Map Genie.

Choices

V can tell Willie McCoy the truth or lie to him, and still gets Jackie's location. At the border, the bribe has to be paid, and playing it cool gets V through. The answers to Sheriff Jones and to Jackie change some lines, but the job always ends with the handshake.

Rewards

Completing The Nomad rewards Car model memorabilia.

Tips

In the chase, only V's pistol can be used. Aiming at the pursuers' cars and firing until they explode is quicker than shooting the drivers one by one.

Characters

The characters who take part in The Nomad are listed below.

Name Image
Willie McCoy -
Jackie Welles Jackie Welles
Andrew Jones -

Notes

  • The Nomad is one of three opening jobs. Only one of them is played, chosen by the life path at the start of the game. The other two are The Streetkid and The Corpo-Rat.
  • The car repair shop in Yucca has a computer with emails that can be read.

All Main Jobs