Fort Mercer is an abandoned military fort and prominent gang hideout in Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Red Dead Online. It is located in the Río Bravo region of the New Austin territory.

Description

Fort Mercer is a sprawling collection of military buildings surrounded by a high, khaki and broken down perimeter wall. Two sets of large wooden gates lead into the fort - in some game modes these are open or can be opened by the player, while in others they are locked shut.

Location

Fort Mercer is due south of the old railroad halt of Mercer Station, up on the central plateau of Río Bravo. Alternatively, the road east from Plainview and then north up into Río Bravo approaches the fort from the south.

History

Background

Fort Mercer might have been a fort used during the Mexican-American War as it is near the border with Mexico. Jake speculates that the soldiers who previously occupied it eventually abandoned it because they moved up north to fight Native Americans or quit to become prospectors.

Events of Red Dead Online

In the year 1898, the fort is occupied by Teddy Brown's boys, who use it as their main hideout during their crime spree in New Austin. In the mission "Kill Them, Each and Every One", the fort is besieged by the local authorities, several U.S. Marshals, and the protagonist's posse, who wipe out the gang. Following the mission, Fort Mercer becomes a hideout for the Del Lobo Gang that the player can clear.

Events of Red Dead Redemption 2

In 1907, the fort is occupied by a large force of Del Lobos. John Marston can choose to attack the fort, but it can be potentially dangerous as two stationary Gatling guns are positioned at the south end of the fort, though these can be flanked with no danger at all from an attack through the open gate to the south.

Events of Red Dead Redemption

Fort Mercer is an important storyline location for the New Austin chapter of the game as it is the stronghold of Bill Williamson and his gang. The first mission in the game "Exodus in America" ends at the gates of Fort Mercer. The remainder of the New Austin chapter is a progression of events leading to the eventual storming of Fort Mercer in the mission "The Assault on Fort Mercer". After the mission, the fort becomes a gang hideout occupied by the Banditos.

Events of Undead Nightmare

During the Undead Nightmare, Fort Mercer is a permanent Safe Zone, and can never be overrun with the undead. However, though unlikely and rare, undead may spawn inside if survivors taking refuge are killed in the fort. It has been taken over by the U.S. Army to house refugees and hold out until rescue arrives. However, there is a constant horde of zombies surrounding it at all times, making it difficult to enter or leave.

It is here Marston encounters Nigel West Dickens, who is initially attempting to sell a modified version of his elixir to the refugees hiding inside the fort. This is also one of two locations (the other being El Presidio) that the player can begin the Missing Persons activity.

Fort Mercer also consists of a safehouse that the player can use to save their game, change outfits and fast travel to other locations. It is available upon completion of the mission "Love in the Time of Plague", but cannot be legitimately accessed until after completing "Curious Tales from Blackwater", granting the player access to New Austin.

In addition to the stack of boxes next to the main gate, there are two ladders on the eastern face of the fort and two more on the southwest and northwest corners to use for ingress and egress.

Multiplayer

In Free Roam, Fort Mercer is a gang hideout occupied by the Bollard Twins Gang. The LeMat Revolver is located here, in a crate on the roof of one of the rear buildings. There is also a Gatling Gun on the roof of the fort. The player must kill all of the bandits in the fort, as well as the Bollard Twins gang boss. Among the gang members defending the fort are Gus Ballard, who may appear multiple times, and Slink Bradshaw, an NPC infamous for his superb marksmanship.

Completing this hideout earns the player XP. Completion of the hideout is also a requirement for several Multiplayer Challenges under the Free Roam category.

Several Multiplayer game modes are available at Fort Mercer. None are available with the original game, however. All require DLCs, as noted below.

• Requires Legends and Killers DLC
  • Gang Shootout
  • Gold Rush
  • Grab the Bag
  • Shootout
• Requires Liars and Cheats DLC
  • Stronghold
• Requires Outlaws to the End DLC
  • Cooperative Mission

Outlaws to the End

Farmer MacGuffin's daughter must be rescued from Fort Mercer in the Outlaws to the End Co-op mission "The Kidnapped Girl".

Gang Hideout walkthrough

The hideout becomes available after Marston accompanies Irish to Mexico in the mission "We Shall Be Together In Paradise".

At the start of the hideout mission, a Mexican gunslinger Leon Galindo will be outside the walls. He will help the player climb over the wall to start the mission properly. Climb up, kill several Banditos, drop down and open the front gates for him. After this, simply kill all remaining Banditos in Fort Mercer, after which the three Bandito leaders (enemies with slightly more health than regular ones) will burst out of the treasure room. Kill them and the hideout is complete - and one of them will drop the Semi-automatic Pistol. It is also complete if the Gunslinger enters the treasure room. There is also a Semi auto Pistol on the boxes in the treasure room. Leon allows you to take all the treasure. On the left of the front gate is a staircase to the left of it aswell (viewing it from inside the fort) there is a large room with a Double Barreled Shotgun, and 3 Cattleman Revolvers All atop wooden crates. There is also a safe on the upper level of the fort that can be cracked, although doing so without wearing the bandana will result in a loss of 100 honor

It is also worth mentioning that whilst the player is rewarded with the two money chests in the treasure room, there are ten more scattered around the fort. Most are either hidden inside various rooms or hallways, but the chests located in the stables behind the treasure room, on the roof of the main building (there is a ladder on the floor above the treasure room), and on the roof of the building behind and to the right of the treasure room are easily missed. A full list of the locations can be found here, under the 'Río Bravo' section.

Social Club Challenge

Main article: Social Club Challenges

Members of the Rockstar Social Club who connect their account to their console will initiate a social club challenge when entering the Fort Mercer hideout. This adds objectives, leaderboards, and the ability to unlock a cheat. See the main article for details.

Notes

The following information only pertains to Red Dead Redemption 2.

• In the northwest section of the fort, Valerian Root can be found atop a crate.

• There is money on two of the three tables to the left of the main entrance.

• Southwest of the fort is a dinosaur bone. It sits on top of the big rock plateau overlooking the fort.

Bugs/Glitches

• Occasionally, the gunslinger will get stuck behind the wooden racks leaning against a wall. Simply run into this object to make it fall over and he will continue on.
• There is a bug in which after he introduces himself, he will stand motionless making the player unable to proceed.
• Occasionally, enemies in multiplayer will be stuck inside walls, resulting in only seeing their arms and the barrel of their gun. This usually happens on the ground level. Players are unable to shoot them if this happens. Dynamite is the only weapon that works for this problem; throwing it in the direct vicinity of the trapped enemy will often work. Leaving the area and returning is the only way to correct this issue if unable to kill the entrapped enemy. Sometimes, the trapped gunman will have a limb poking outside of the wall. Shooting the exposed limb will cause him to pop out of the wall and land on the ground.
• Occasionally after completing the hideout the player will not receive the "Hideout Complete" message and will not get credit for completion. The player should first confirm that both chests in the treasure room have been opened, not just one. If that is not the issue, save, quit, and reload the game and then do the Fort Mercer hideout before doing any others.
• After completing the hideout, the Gatling Gun can occasionally disappear.

Trivia

General

• The location shares its name with the real-life Fort Mercer that was built during the American Revolution. It sits on the banks of the Delaware River and was headed by George Washington.
• Mercer comes from the Old English Merc or Myrce meaning "Borderland". This is plausible as Fort Mercer is on the US-Mexico border.
• The facade of Fort Mercer appears to resemble a more rundown version of the facade of the Alamo Mission in San Antonio.
• In terms of geographical location, it resembles Fort Brown in southern Texas. Fort Mercer also seems to have a similar history as Fort Brown as well.
• Fort Mercer's layout is very similar to that of Fort Diego.

Red Dead Redemption 2

• It can be seen from Manteca Falls, even more clearly during night time when the lights are on.
• The money on one of the tables in the fort can be glitchy; therefore, the player may not be able to pick it up outright.
• If John Marston clears out Fort Mercer in 1907, then leaves and returns later, it will be abandoned completely. Bill Williamson and his gang won't be there, and the Del Lobo corpses will have disappeared.
• Although Fort Mercer can be explored, the buildings within are inaccessible.

Red Dead Redemption

• If the player goes to Fort Mercer before driving Williamson out, they can see several Banditos standing around inside, near the top of the walls. The player can lasso them and drag them off it if they are in a good enough position to kill them. Killing them will give no honor change and will add a Bandito kill to the player's stats.
• During the "Exodus in America" mission, Jake tells the player that, although Fort Mercer has been abandoned for years, it was originally occupied by American soldiers during the Mexican War. He says that even though he heard they left to fight Indians in the North, it's possible they "got tired of being soldiers and went looking for gold, you know how things is." It's possible that this is a reference to the group of soldiers who hid the gold found during the Treasure Hunter Challenges, considering that Fort Mercer has a treasure room located within its walls, and most treasure seems to have historically military names.
• This may also be a reference to the game Battlefield: Bad Company.
• After the gang hideout is completed, if Fort Mercer is explored, there is a room with two prison cells occupied by prostitutes. However, there is no way to release them, but it is possible to kill them.
• Fort Mercer also has the distinction of being the only gang hideout to be occupied by five different groups throughout various game modes: in single player, Bill Williamson's Gang followed by the Mexican Banditos; in Multiplayer Free Roam, the Bollard Twins Gang; and in Cooperative, Miscellaneous Criminals. In Undead Nightmare, the US Army has control over it.
• If at a campsite, the player may hear a tale about Fort Mercer being built on an Indian burial ground.
• A Semi-automatic Pistol can be found in a table in the treasure room. It cannot be picked up. However, if one is missing pistol ammo it can be picked up for ammo.
• There are 4 lanterns hanging under the wooden parapet walk and another one nearby, on the corner of the Western and Southern wall next to a flight of stairs, 3 of those are floating mid-air.

Undead Nightmare

• In Undead Nightmare, killing all the survivors in the fort will cause the undead surrounding it to leave the area.
• The survivors at Fort Mercer are protected by US army soldiers, and include people from a wide variety of ethnicities and backgrounds, some of whom can also be found outside of the Fort. The survivors during Undead Nightmare include Everett Knox, Alfred Winlock, Dieter Frommel (cutscene only), Ralph Stricker, Granville Berry, Emerson Lang, Melvin Spinney, Solomon Flake, Mintie Cummings, Eunis Randle, Winona Picket, Nancy Drummond and Chow Quan. The soldiers who are present at the fort are Cody Hixon, Brent Appleby, Frank Stockton, Cole Abbott and Archie Boyd.
• A relatively common glitch may occur where a single Bolter unintentionally spawns within the fort's walls and attacks the survivors inside the fort, usually a single member of the U.S. Army. The Bolter usually spawns in either the small room beside the front gate, or on the catwalk that leads to the watchtower, near the safehouse. The soldier will not try to engage the Bolter in any way, and are usually killed by the Bolter very quickly.
  • If the player shoots the Bolter while they attack a soldier, the soldier will immediately open fire on the player and treat them as a hostile, despite the player saving their life. This appears to be another unintended glitch.
• In Undead Nightmare, on some occasions after talking to Nigel West Dickens for the first mission with him; if the player goes to the far doors, the guards will open them, letting zombies get into the fort.

Gallery

Red Dead Redemption

Screenshot of Fort Mercer.

A small posse attacking Fort Mercer.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Fort Mercer Logo

Trophies/Achievements

Fort Mercer is associated with several achievements:

	LAND OF OPPORTUNITY 30 gamerscore Bronze bronze Complete "The Assault on Fort Mercer".

	INSTINTO ASESINO 25 gamerscore Silver silver Complete Fort Mercer and Nosalida hideouts in singleplayer.

	SLOW ON THE DRAW 10 gamerscore Bronze bronze Get 10 assists in a single hideout in a public Free Roam session.

	HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL 20 gamerscore Silver silver Complete all hideouts in single public Free Roam session.

	ON THE TRAIL OF DE VACA 10 gamerscore Bronze bronze Uncover every location on the map in Single Player.

	REDEEMED 100 gamerscore Gold gold Attain 100% List in the singleplayer game completion list.

Undead Nightmare

Keeping this location free of Undead infestation during the Undead Nightmare and rescuing all of the Missing Persons contribute toward the following Achievements/Trophies:

	SPINNING PLATES 10 gamerscore Bronze bronze Have every territory saved at the same time during the Undead Nightmare

	ZED'S DEAD, BABY 40 gamerscore Silver silver Attain 100% Game Completion statistic in Undead Nightmare.

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