Fallout VII - Vault-Tec calling

[Mando Knight]

Which brings up another point about bad plot devices: You absolutely don't need to make the Institute reactor go super-critical to defeat them. All you need to do is map their ventilation system. Instead of setting off a nuclear explosion, just set off a few backpacks of orange smoke bombs and have Vertibirds watching for smoke plumes in the area around CIT. Good old ground-penetrating radar would also do the business, but let's assume we need a low-tech solution. With the Institute's ventilation system mapped out, it would be trivial to inject chemical irritants or just cut off the incoming air, and the Institute would have the option of either retreating or surrendering.

Just forcing the Institute out of their ivory basement isn't enough for two of the three factions that use the Nuclear Option: the Railroad wants to specifically permanently end the creation of Synths as a slave race as well as the base of operations of the SRB, their most direct adversary. The BoS sees the Institute as an embodiment of everything wrong with the Old World, and must be utterly annihilated to neutralize the threat.

[Triaxx]

In the Railroad case at least, they 'save' the synth's by ensuring they'll stop continuing to exist. Yay?

The Brotherhood on the other hand, well, they honestly have no reason to not simply take the place of the Institute. Wipe them out, then take over their task of stripping all tech from the wastes. The fact that they're basically enslaving the Commonwealth with humans instead of synths doesn't make it any less wrong.

[The_Jackal]

Just forcing the Institute out of their ivory basement isn't enough for two of the three factions that use the Nuclear Option: the Railroad wants to specifically permanently end the creation of Synths as a slave race as well as the base of operations of the SRB, their most direct adversary. The BoS sees the Institute as an embodiment of everything wrong with the Old World, and must be utterly annihilated to neutralize the threat.

Right, however, I'm actually trying to utilize ethics and humane principles, rather than ideologically driven mass homicide. I'd much rather see the Institute defeated and brought to justice than annihilated in an atomic fireball.

In the Railroad case at least, they 'save' the synth's by ensuring they'll stop continuing to exist. Yay?

The Brotherhood on the other hand, well, they honestly have no reason to not simply take the place of the Institute. Wipe them out, then take over their task of stripping all tech from the wastes. The fact that they're basically enslaving the Commonwealth with humans instead of synths doesn't make it any less wrong.

Agreed, but at least the Brotherhood is paying lip service to the idea of pacifying the Commonwealth. The Institute doesn't even do that, preferring to screw with people while cowering in their paradise bunker.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

The Railroad are a bunch of misguided fools who are asking the wrong questions. Their solution to 'end the slavery of synths' is to destroy the one and only means of producing them. In the meantime, they are broadcasting the Institute's properties all over the Commonwealth, which can be reactivated at need with a single command word, even after being mind-wiped. In other words, you're doing the Institute's job for them, you are seeding moles into every Commonwealth society which they can trigger at any time. You are taking on the burden of covert distribution of Institute assets in preparation for a hostile takover.

The Institute is a bunch of blinded ivory-tower eggheads who are evil simply because they have no concept of goodness. Once you consider morality irrelevant, you discover true evil... a simple complete and utter lack of concern for anything other than your goals. As such, they need to be put down like rabid dogs.

The Brotherhood, at least, are refreshingly honest, if a bit internally inconsistent. Sure, they're jackbooted evil stormtroopers, but at least they don't try to deny it. Ultimately a danger to any attempt at creating civilization, and so need to be eliminated, but hey... at least they're the 'obvious villain' of the piece.

The Minutemen have the same problem the NCR had in F:NV. Too big an area, not enough troops. They are at least the least dangerous to civilians... at least in this generation. However, unless the Sole Survivor (which is a misnomer since Shawn also survived...) can come up with a representative form of government and make the Minutemen a police/military force in service to the public, they stand to be a dictatorial threat to freedom in almost any given future generation. Which is the problem with any military force, and the paradox which most revolutions fall under. To revolt, you need to fight. But combat needs a clear commander. Once the fight is over, the commander is the clear choice for an intermediary leader, and 'intermediary' can be a very relative term. Four legs good, two legs better.

[Avilan the Grey]

Pretty much this. The "greater good" has been the accompaniment to virtually every atrocity in history, like the piano to the most horrific lounge lizard the world has seen.

And in a lot of cases when it comes to Shaun it's not even that.
Under his supervision they shut down the very successful Cybernetics experiment that basically turned Kellog immortal and downright super-powerful. Probably because Shaun resented him for killing his parent, so he refused to go along with at line of experimentation.

He replaced that line of experimentation with two things: Androids who he (while yelling so loud about it he basically spits in your face) insists are incapable of feeling fear (which shows he is in denial) while at the same time trying to make them feel emotions (for science!). And what's worse: FEV experimentation.

Every. Single. Supermutant. you meet in the game has been relased from the Institute and let loose on the settlers above ground. What's worse is that every one of them is a kidnapped civilian from above ground that has been replaced by a synth (maybe) and then dragged down and dipped into FEV against their will. For Science! Every. Single. One.

And then, of course the normal replacements. When those experiments are over, the replacement eradicates all the people he or she has been in contact with. Meaning not only do a settler family have one of the parents kidnapped and replaced. When whatever study they're doing is done, that replacement synt kills the whole family, including the kids.

All this is Shaun's orders.


...I did sound the evacuation btw; so most scientists and kids survived our onslaught.

The Brotherhood, at least, are refreshingly honest, if a bit internally inconsistent. Sure, they're jackbooted evil stormtroopers, but at least they don't try to deny it. Ultimately a danger to any attempt at creating civilization, and so need to be eliminated, but hey... at least they're the 'obvious villain' of the piece.

I so very much disagree with this.

The Institute is the designated villain of the piece.
On top of that, they are not behaving like the Empire. Yes, they are less benevolent than when they were led by Lions, but they are not instituting a military dictatorship.
They also forward their own research and seem willing to share what they deem is "good" science with the public eventually (improved health drugs, purified water, what have you). They most busy themselves with actually constantly attacking real enemies (raiders, super mutants, ghouls) and let the settlements be alone.
They also response to you asking them about preserving the knowledge from the Institute with saying that science is tainted, and I can respect that. It is the opposite of what happened after WWII IRL, but it is a valid decision. Especially since it shows they are not hypocrites. They deemed the knowledge too dangerous for anyone to handle including themselves and they stick to it.

[Triaxx]

Yes indeed, you can advance, but only as we allow, and we will enforce that at gun point with the advanced technology we are making sure you're not allowed to possess. Yup, nothing like a Military Dictatorship to say 'progress!'

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I so very much disagree with this.

The Institute is the designated villain of the piece.
On top of that, they are not behaving like the Empire. Yes, they are less benevolent than when they were led by Lions, but they are not instituting a military dictatorship.
They also forward their own research and seem willing to share what they deem is "good" science with the public eventually (improved health drugs, purified water, what have you). They most busy themselves with actually constantly attacking real enemies (raiders, super mutants, ghouls) and let the settlements be alone.
They also response to you asking them about preserving the knowledge from the Institute with saying that science is tainted, and I can respect that. It is the opposite of what happened after WWII IRL, but it is a valid decision. Especially since it shows they are not hypocrites. They deemed the knowledge too dangerous for anyone to handle including themselves and they stick to it.

Unfortunately, that doesn't change the fact that they are jackbooted stormtroopers. WW II aside, they use force to coerce supplies out of local population centers (which you actively take a part in if you side with the institute), kill anyone suspected of being a synth (because witch hunts are fun), and have a ready-made excuse to cover any atrocity they see fit to indulge in (it's okay, they were a synth). They also attack sentient ghouls on sight, which would include the entire population of Goodneighbor, which more than one Brotherhood claim is an infested den of filth that needs to be cleansed.

All the while using power armor and energy weapons that local civilians don't have access to so they are the only ones with the tech superiority so they can dominate whomever they want to with minimum hassle. Because it's wrong for anyone else to have it, but they are the save custodians of such technology.

So yea... jackbooted stormtroopers. Deny it all you like, their actions speak louder than their words. And their actions are of a ruthless and brutal totalitarianist regime built on power over technology to suppress any chance society has of digging itself out of the subsistence-level hole it is currently in, and leeching off of said subsistence-level population to support itself.

They may ALSO strike out at the poor victims of FEV experimentation, who do need to be put out of their misery, and feral ghouls, and raiders. But they also brutally suppress any population center they can get their hands on and effectively raid them for supplies. So how does this make them any better than raiders?

[factotum]

However, I don't think we get much in the way of yield and megatonnage figures for the Institute reactor going critical, so it's quite possible that he (and many other Institute staff) may survive the initial blast and merely die from massive radiation

Go and look at the crater left in the north shore of the river after that reactor goes up, and then compare that to how big the Institute was from your travels inside it. I don't think there's much doubt that the entire place was wiped clean instantaneously.

[Avilan the Grey]

Unfortunately, that doesn't change the fact that they are jackbooted stormtroopers. WW II aside, they use force to coerce supplies out of local population centers (which you actively take a part in if you side with the institute), kill anyone suspected of being a synth (because witch hunts are fun), and have a ready-made excuse to cover any atrocity they see fit to indulge in (it's okay, they were a synth). They also attack sentient ghouls on sight, which would include the entire population of Goodneighbor, which more than one Brotherhood claim is an infested den of filth that needs to be cleansed.

Well, I have not seen any of that happening. They talk a lot, but no, no attacks of ghouls in settlements.
Also, I KNOW that the only pure good option is the Minute men (Railroad openly say they're not interested in rebuilding the Commonwealth and don't give a hoot about non-synths). But my character did chose BOS from an RPG perspective (married to a power-armor trained veteran, used to a military command structure, etc etc).

That said, it was a bit of a pleasant surprise (I have not talked to Hancock yet) that both Valentine and Codsworth are very happy with my choice to go BOS.

[The_Jackal]

Well, I have not seen any of that happening. They talk a lot, but no, no attacks of ghouls in settlements.
Also, I KNOW that the only pure good option is the Minute men (Railroad openly say they're not interested in rebuilding the Commonwealth and don't give a hoot about non-synths). But my character did chose BOS from an RPG perspective (married to a power-armor trained veteran, used to a military command structure, etc etc).

That said, it was a bit of a pleasant surprise (I have not talked to Hancock yet) that both Valentine and Codsworth are very happy with my choice to go BOS.

Look, all of the factions are pretty flawed, because the Fallout universe isn't populated by real people, it's a cultural satire populated by science fiction tropes. The BoS are basically space marines, and the minutemen use... laser muskets. I say again, laser muskets. The Railroad is what you get when you cross Noam Chomsky with Ted Kaczynski, and as we've already settled, the Institute is, for all intents and purposes, Doctor Mengele.

With choices as bad as this, it's not hard to choose wrong.

[Mando Knight]

Look, all of the factions are pretty flawed, because the Fallout universe isn't populated by real people, it's a cultural satire populated by science fiction tropes. The BoS are basically space marines, and the minutemen use... laser muskets. I say again, laser muskets. The Railroad is what you get when you cross Noam Chomsky with Ted Kaczynski, and as we've already settled, the Institute is, for all intents and purposes, Doctor Mengele.

With choices as bad as this, it's not hard to choose wrong.

All the factions being flawed is actually what helps make it more real to me. Perfect people don't exist, and flawed people don't make perfect factions.

That said, the BoS comparison to the Imperium of Man is definitely far stronger in FO4 than it was in any other game: Arthur is just psychic powers and a golden throne away from being the God-Emperor of the Brotherhood, and the Institute is literally an embodiment of Heresy that must be purged to save the Imperium world.

[Avilan the Grey]

I do say (and I guess that's the same with the Railroad) that NOT being top dog is feeling more realistic.

If you side with the Institute and is the frakking Director, yet never really spend time there? Weird.
If you side with the Minutemen and well... same thing, but General.

If you side with BOS you become the first Sentinel in living memory, and as such you still have to show respect to the Elder, but you become a free agent; basically as far as I understand it, you cannot be ordered to do things anymore (but you can choose to accept requests for quests), but you are this shining example of what a BOS member should be, and everyone respects you. Basically you become one of Arthur's Knights on a quest; theoretically still serving your King and the Round Table, but really just out on Epic Adventures.

Look, all of the factions are pretty flawed, because the Fallout universe isn't populated by real people, it's a cultural satire populated by science fiction tropes. The BoS are basically space marines, and the minutemen use... laser muskets. I say again, laser muskets. The Railroad is what you get when you cross Noam Chomsky with Ted Kaczynski, and as we've already settled, the Institute is, for all intents and purposes, Doctor Mengele.

With choices as bad as this, it's not hard to choose wrong.

Those laser muskets makes sense In Lore: According to lore (and it seems they did try to implement it but balance flew out the window) the muskets do not use ammo. This is their main benefit; you get an extremely powerful sniper rifle that has unlimited ammo. Also, they are far better than actual muskets because it doesn't take 3 minutes to reload. They're about as quick to reload as say the single shot sniper rifles in Mass Effect.

[Mando Knight]

If you side with BOS you become the first Sentinel in living memory, and as such you still have to show respect to the Elder, but you become a free agent; basically as far as I understand it, you cannot be ordered to do things anymore (but you can choose to accept requests for quests), but you are this shining example of what a BOS member should be, and everyone respects you. Basically you become one of Arthur's Knights on a quest; theoretically still serving your King and the Round Table, but really just out on Epic Adventures.

Technically not living memory (ten years ago Maxson had a crush on a very specific Sentinel who taught him how to stab men in their kidneys), but it definitely has apparently been a while since he's appointed a Sentinel and you're the only one active in the Commonwealth at any rate.

[Triaxx]

Only during the learning process would a musket take that long to reload. For a well trained musketman could get 3 or so shot out.

[Mutazoia]

Only during the learning process would a musket take that long to reload. For a well trained musketman could get 3 or so shot out.

It also depends on the load type. Pre-Civil War, you would have to unsling your powder horn, pour a bit of powder down your barrel (measuring by eye/experience), wrap your ball in the wad, stuff it in the barrel, and then use the ram rod to pack it all nice and tight near the flash chamber. During the Civil War, your powder/wad/shot was all pre-mesured into paper-wrapped packets. You shoved the packet in the barrel, and rammed it down.

Re-load speed also depended on whether you were using a flint lock/fuse, or firing caps. If you were shooting match lock, forget it...fix a bayonette, fire once and CHARGE.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

It also depends on the load type. Pre-Civil War, you would have to unsling your powder horn, pour a bit of powder down your barrel (measuring by eye/experience), wrap your ball in the wad, stuff it in the barrel, and then use the ram rod to pack it all nice and tight near the flash chamber. During the Civil War, your powder/wad/shot was all pre-mesured into paper-wrapped packets. You shoved the packet in the barrel, and rammed it down.

Also depends on the skill of the user. You could get around a round a minute out of a musket as long as it was a flintlock instead of a matchlock. Kentucky Long Rifle being a rare example of a rifled flintlock with far higher accuracy, at the cost of rate of fire and expense.

By the time you get to Civil War, they had already progressed to percussion caps. Powder/Wad/Shot packets were Napoleonic. Winchester 73 was already available to the military in Civil War, which was a repeating lever-action rifle. Civil War also had hand-crank Gatling Guns and the very first examples of breech-loading artillery.

Heck, the reason the '73 was so popular is that most of the Civil War veterans kept theirs as they went west, and those who didn't have them quickly saw the value and purchased one. That and the 'coach gun' are probably the two firearms that made the most difference, with probably the Peacemaker and Walker behind 'em.

Re-load speed also depended on whether you were using a flint lock/fuse, or firing caps. If you were shooting match lock, forget it...fix a bayonette, fire once and CHARGE.

Ring bayonette didn't exist until Napoleonic era. If you had a matchlock, you had a 'plug bayonette', which meant fire first, THEN fix and charge.

[Mutazoia]

Ring bayonette didn't exist until Napoleonic era. If you had a matchlock, you had a 'plug bayonette', which meant fire first, THEN fix and charge.

Spoiler: *wink*

Show

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Spoiler: *wink*

Show

That is neither a bayonette nor an actual device used pre-Napoleonic. That is, in fact, one of the most utterly ridiculous 'weapons' to have been designed by someone with zero actual weapons knowledge since the infamous 'gunblade' of FF VIII.

[factotum]

Even *I* can see that you're likely to bend the barrel of the gun if you actually try to use that as a hatchet, so I doubt the weapon would work in both its modes for very long--and the balance on it must be terrible.

[Mutazoia]

That is neither a bayonette nor an actual device used pre-Napoleonic. That is, in fact, one of the most utterly ridiculous 'weapons' to have been designed by someone with zero actual weapons knowledge since the infamous 'gunblade' of FF VIII.

Even *I* can see that you're likely to bend the barrel of the gun if you actually try to use that as a hatchet, so I doubt the weapon would work in both its modes for very long--and the balance on it must be terrible.

Your snark detectors are malfunctioning.

[Triaxx]

Admittedly, I doubt a bent barrel would make a smooth bore musket much less accurate.

Of course all the issue's noted are the reason for Napoleonic era volley fire.

[Avilan the Grey]

Technically not living memory (ten years ago Maxson had a crush on a very specific Sentinel who taught him how to stab men in their kidneys), but it definitely has apparently been a while since he's appointed a Sentinel and you're the only one active in the Commonwealth at any rate.

Well fine. "In Living Memory" sounds cooler though.

[druid91]

The problem, of course, is that Shaun is basically Dr Mengele. If only by proxy (he orders others to do the experiments). In short, your son is a monster. His legacy, and what he loved doing, must be destroyed with him.

My character, after meeting her son, told him off to his face (basically saying he is no longer her son). She did have enough mercy to later kill him in his bed instead of leaving him for the explosion though.

Is there anyone better to side with?

Your choices for allies are,

*The Secretive Cabal of Mad Scientists from before the Great War, who do sometimes evil science in their underground lair and actively cause chaos in the world above to prevent people from organizing against them, who are lead by your son.

*The Psychotic Luddites who want to save the world from toasters and talk like tacticool 13 year olds. (Except Ingrams. Proctor Ingrams is badass.) While also committing genocide against anyone that's mutated, or has science that remotely works and doesn't work for them.

*The Secretive Cabal of Spies, who steal the Mad Scientists robots because they think the robots are people too. Which, depending on your qualifiers for people, they could be, but then, so could Codsworth. And then wipe their minds and scatter them across the commonwealth to do whatever.

*A bloodthirsty band of Anarchists who style themselves as hero's of the commonwealth, but with no real chain of command or way to enforce any sort of rules, there's absolutely nothing to stop them from doing whatever they please. This is how we get things like Libertalia. AND with the proliferation of indirect fire artillery, what's to stop just anyone from throwing down one of those smoke grenades? There's no membership requirements. There's no rules. And lest we forget, Preston Garvey Demands Blood. And so do the rest of the minutemen. Once someone is declared a raider, their life is forfeit.

There aren't really any 'good sides' for you to choose.

[Triaxx]

So... Basically side with the raiders in Nuka World, and kill everyone.

Seriously though, it sounds from those options complete butchery of every living thing in the Commonwealth is the only option.

[Avilan the Grey]

Is there anyone better to side with?

Your choices for allies are,

*The Secretive Cabal of Mad Scientists from before the Great War, who do sometimes evil science in their underground lair and actively cause chaos in the world above to prevent people from organizing against them, who are lead by your son.

*The Psychotic Luddites who want to save the world from toasters and talk like tacticool 13 year olds. (Except Ingrams. Proctor Ingrams is badass.) While also committing genocide against anyone that's mutated, or has science that remotely works and doesn't work for them.

*The Secretive Cabal of Spies, who steal the Mad Scientists robots because they think the robots are people too. Which, depending on your qualifiers for people, they could be, but then, so could Codsworth. And then wipe their minds and scatter them across the commonwealth to do whatever.

*A bloodthirsty band of Anarchists who style themselves as hero's of the commonwealth, but with no real chain of command or way to enforce any sort of rules, there's absolutely nothing to stop them from doing whatever they please. This is how we get things like Libertalia. AND with the proliferation of indirect fire artillery, what's to stop just anyone from throwing down one of those smoke grenades? There's no membership requirements. There's no rules. And lest we forget, Preston Garvey Demands Blood. And so do the rest of the minutemen. Once someone is declared a raider, their life is forfeit.

There aren't really any 'good sides' for you to choose.

I'm sorry. but talk about reading the Bible like the Devil would.
I'm not sure if you're joking or if you actually think the Minutemen are "Blood Thirsty thugs".
You're just wrong. It's as simple as that.

[druid91]

I'm sorry. but talk about reading the Bible like the Devil would.
I'm not sure if you're joking or if you actually think the Minutemen are "Blood Thirsty thugs".
You're just wrong. It's as simple as that.

Can you name a time where Preston will accept merciful treatment of those he considers enemies? A SINGLE time? A time where a Raider was disarmed and allowed to live?

I can't.

He either ignores the issue, because they still need YOU which is more or less plot armor. Or the offender needs to die.

As to the chain of command issues? Those are canon. The minutemen fell apart almost literally weeks before the player woke up and met Preston. How long did it take for it's members to turn to raiding?

[Triaxx]

According to Libertalia and Preston, it was a couple of months since Quincy, with the Minutemen losing the castle to the Mirelurk Queen in 2240, 47 years prior. The Minutemen didn't dissolve nearly as fast as you're thinking they did.

As for Preston, I'll point out to you, that the Minutemen aren't meant to be police. They're militia/military troops, meaning they don't have the facilities to incarcerate/rehab drug addicted psychopaths. They also don't have the equipment/weapons to deal non-lethally with the raiders.

[The_Jackal]

Can you name a time where Preston will accept merciful treatment of those he considers enemies? A SINGLE time? A time where a Raider was disarmed and allowed to live?

I can't.

He either ignores the issue, because they still need YOU which is more or less plot armor. Or the offender needs to die.

As to the chain of command issues? Those are canon. The minutemen fell apart almost literally weeks before the player woke up and met Preston. How long did it take for it's members to turn to raiding?

Don't conflate the enemy AI behaviour with Preston's morals. Preston's gang are refugees fighting for their life against the bloodthirsty raiders who shoot anyone, yourself included, on sight. Don't get all moral relativism on me and insist that I don a cardigan and talk out my differences with the radscorpions. They're innately hostile NPCs, and your options are kill or be killed. Preston behaves perfectly reasonably to anyone who makes an effort to do the same. Just because he won't break bread with Lord Humungous while he's being disemboweled does not make Preston a thug.

[druid91]

Don't conflate the enemy AI behaviour with Preston's morals. Preston's gang are refugees fighting for their life against the bloodthirsty raiders who shoot anyone, yourself included, on sight. Don't get all moral relativism on me and insist that I don a cardigan and talk out my differences with the radscorpions. They're innately hostile NPCs, and your options are kill or be killed. Preston behaves perfectly reasonably to anyone who makes an effort to do the same. Just because he won't break bread with Lord Humungous while he's being disemboweled does not make Preston a thug.

The fact of the matter is that the game does in fact permit you to build prisons more than capable of holding raiders.

See, that's the thing, I don't. Your options, do in fact, include more than 'kill or be killed' given there is an explicit perk in the game that allows you to force people to surrender.

This isn't a perk added by a DLC either, it was intended to be in the game from the start. The fact that they didn't take it into account on these quests might be an unintended side effect of Bethesda's code, but it's still part of the game. It's still part of the story as presented to the player. You can choose to ignore it if you wish, but that doesn't change that the game was built with an option for Mercy and Preston Garvey refuses to take it.

[The_Jackal]

The fact of the matter is that the game does in fact permit you to build prisons more than capable of holding raiders.

Yes, and they also allow you chose to side with raiders, the BoS, and the Institute. The fact is, the game is programmed, and I'm not ready to interpret an omission of a particular reaction on the part of an NPC as some kind of moral failing.

See, that's the thing, I don't. Your options, do in fact, include more than 'kill or be killed' given there is an explicit perk in the game that allows you to force people to surrender.

So if you don't have a 10 charisma and take the intimidation perk, you're no better than a raider? That's an IMMENSE reach. The problem here is that you're invoking the paucity of NPC reaction mechanics as some kind of morality system, when the game really is not that complicated. The raiders are there for you to shoot. They're not meant to be sympathetic or fully fleshed out, that's why they're mostly equipped with full-face masks, specifically to prevent you from empathizing very much with them. The same kind of design informed the design of the Stormtroopers in Star Wars.

This isn't a perk added by a DLC either, it was intended to be in the game from the start. The fact that they didn't take it into account on these quests might be an unintended side effect of Bethesda's code, but it's still part of the game. It's still part of the story as presented to the player. You can choose to ignore it if you wish, but that doesn't change that the game was built with an option for Mercy and Preston Garvey refuses to take it.

It doesn't matter whether it's DLC or not. What you're doing here is mapping real-world morals and assumptions on scripted NPCs, and then trying to warp those assumptions into some kind of logical inversion, as if, for some reason, the burden is on Preston to somehow overcome the bloodthirst of your bog-standard raider. In point of fact, Preston is just like any other NPC: he's got a faction, that faction is the Minutemen, and the minutemen generally are peaceful unless provoked, unlike Raiders.