Also they would probably feel more similar if you met Garvey immediately after the quincy massacre The railroad JUST had their HQ raided by the institute they were probably in disarray
@@ERROR_USERNAME_NOT_FOUND yea thats true, they both start out fairly similar. But by the end of fallout 4, depending on how you play, the minutemen have a fortified command center, several large farms supplying food to other settlements, newly established bunker hill caravan routes, wide artillery coverage, and fire support on standby. On the other hand, the railroad is still hiding under the church, with a single new safehouse established since you've joined them, which really doesnt matter since they still lose multiple other safehouses throughout the story
@@ERROR_USERNAME_NOT_FOUND the Minutemen were probably better off right after Quincy than when you meet Preston, there was another Minuteman with him until probably earlier the same day and he mentions suffering heavy casualties as they traveled until there were only 5 left.
They existed but waited for a new leader. Then they start reappearing and you end up woth Ronnie or whatzhername in the castle. But yeah lol. MM surrounded by raiders and they somehow were better organized and off than the RR. After you give em breathing room they even help give you PA a minigun and fight a deathclaw considered a late game enemy. RR want you to with deacon or more than likely solo to infiltrate an old hideout former government intelligence bunker and then blast your way out of an area full of synths.
The Railroad being a radical ideological group that has no real plans after they achieve their goal is an unintentionally realistic depiction of those kind of a radical movements.
The fact that they are essentially killing the synths they liberate with mind wipes as well as dooming their race by destroying the institute their only means of procreation speaks of their moral gymnastics and lack of brain power. Also if they give a shit about non synth slaves I sure can't tell they supposedly did in fallout 3 but that appears to have evaporated.
@@thegermanfool8953 It has been a while since I played FO NV. I do not recall the Boomers having any ideology aside from being hyper isolationists bombing anyone that came close to them.
The railroad killed so many people on the prydwen....there were children in there. Atleast when you blow up the institute you can activate the evacuation alarm
I still remember seeing the quest to blow up the prydwen. My roommate was going railroad, I went brotherhood. So I just kinda saw him do the end of that quest and was like "...did you like join an evil faction or something? Cause you just killed children." Finding out it was the railroad soured me to the entire faction and never join them on any playthroughs. I don't think any brotherhood fans (self included) think bos is sqeeky clean. It's incredibly obvious they have serious issues and are by no means the good guys. But I kinda draw the line at painting a faction as being good guys, and then giving you a mission where you murder children and it's not only presented as a good thing, no one even acknowledges how messed up it really is.
@@Montross4440 But the robowives COULD breed, given that they had human DNA and everything. So the institute being like "hey these reproducing, based-off-the-DNA-of-our-leader have no rights" makes even less sense. Like you'd think Shawn would have SOME qualms about what's technically his own children being used like this
@@geraldposter1496 They may not have known there were children on the Frydwen; my first playthrough was Railroad and *I* sure didn't know. It's pretty insane to tote children around on your military aircraft so it's not unreasonable to simply assume there's only legitimate targets there.
@@geraldposter1496to be fair doesn’t the brotherhood attack them first? I can’t remember what happens in their storyline but in the brotherhoods you attack them first as well as kill them for no reason other then “they could get in our way”
One weird thing about the Railroad questline is that they seem thoroughly uninterested with your activities within the Institute. They're not even worried about whether your allegiance to them is slipping. At no point do you even mention you're in line to become the next Director. It would be pretty neat if you could replace human Institute members with Railroad members in leadership positions. Replace current members with Synth versions who will look the other way. That should add some moral grey - using the Institute's tactics against them. Take over the whole operation the way you and Yes Man take over Mr. House's operation. Then the forced conflict with BoS would make more sense because there's no way you're convincing them that your Institute shouldn't be blown up.
I always thought that since you can become the new head of the Institute, you can create new policies and ban making synths or replacing people, etc. Maybe create policies that can secretly help the commonwealth and still remain secretive. A hidden hand for good not evil. Could have easily, and should have logically been an option.
Given the way they reacted to finding out Danse was a synth, they could do the same to the BoS. Replace a few, drop false information about the leadership and set off a civil war. I know it would require rewriting some late game options, but I'd also like to go to Piper and tell her about the mayor as an option to finishing the courier quests for the SRB. It would cause the Institute to turn against you, but so do several other choices.
Honestly if u were a BOS member I don’t think they’d care as long as u were in charge. Cuz the institutes technology would be under brotherhood supervision.
@@golobulusjenkins754 they tried that once. It failed. Epically. Iirc the broken mask incident led to the fall of the CPG, but the synth in question wasn't supposed to be on the surface in the first place.
The whole "creating a synth replacement of leadership" thing kind of happened in Far Harbor, where Dima can replace the leader of the Children of Atom with a less insane synth version
@@SorowFame thats like saying a cat can survive an airplane nosediving into the ground because it lands on its feet. completely irrelevant because the craft is preventing you from falling in the first place
If we take it at face value that synths are sapient, the Railroad's policy of completely wiping their memory after liberating them is moronic. You might as well kill them if you're going to utterly destroy their existing personalities.
dont forget that the railroad is blowing up the only way for synths to reproduce i dont think anyone would find the thought attractive to be one the last synths out there
@Friendly Neighbourhood Sunwheel It always bothered me that the Railroad seems to value synths as static objects rather than living subjects. It's as if their real objection to synth exploitation is that it perverts the human form or something. Surely if you actually believed synths are thinking, feeling, beings then you wouldn't delete their memories and destroy their only method of reproduction, right? With no knowledge of their own nature how many synths will suffer, confused as to why all their loved ones are growing old and dying while they stay unchanged? Without a way to replenish their numbers, how long until the attrition of the wasteland drives them to extinction? I highly doubt this hypocrisy is intentional, however. I think it's probably just bad writing.
@Friendly Neighbourhood Sunwheel It's interesting that the fictional work credited with inventing the word "robot", Capek's R.U.R. (1921), was really about the creation of organic beings similar to synths or Blade Runner's replicants. Anyway, at the end of R.U.R. the robot factory is destroyed, but it turns out that at least one female robot is able to give birth naturally. So the idea of artificial people giving birth (which BR 2049 stole) is actually very old.
@@truenorth1997 the Railroad's an advocate for Synth freedom; not Synths as a species. Just because someone treats Ghouls equally doesn't mean they should irradiate humans to make more. I'd say the memory wipes is hypocritical if you don't think the wiped Synth matters. They're still able think, feel, form new memories, etc.. What makes Sturges matter less than Glory? I love when people call a compelling flaw in a faction "bad writing" only when it's a Bethesda game. New Vegas can have the NCR tripping over its shoelaces or Lanius not understand the concept of overextension and it's perfectly fine.
I'm at that point now where I have the option to kill the railroad's leader...this may have made it a little bit easier I'm tired of seeing the cursor above her head every time I go to railroad hq...
They could've downgraded the Railroads role to be more of a minor faction and then increased the role of Covenant and have the two sides be at war with with each other. Railroad wants to liberate synths and covenant wants to find and eliminate them. It would be up to the sole survivor to decide to who to assist (if get involved at all). I think it would be a perfect match
@@mrchunky5132 Tactically, I see your point as to why that would be fun, but wouldn't Covenant be more likely to be at least somewhat friendly with the BoS and such? I would think it more likely that you'd need to fight off Institute synth attacks and root out Railroad infiltrators. Perhaps you'd eventually be able to seek help for Covenant from either the BoS or the Minutemen.
@@mrchunky5132 it would be but I don't think covenant and the BOS would fight since they both hate synths. If anything an alliance between the two factions is more likely
@@David_Alvarez77 The minutemen could've also been a lot better if they scaled with the player and could actually get stronger and make alliances with smaller factions
The Railroad should have been a side faction like the Followers in FNV. A possible enemy if you side with the Institute or BoS But maybe an Ally if you play Minutemen
It would’ve been a lot more interesting to see a faction dedicated to the liberation and protection of Ghouls and Super Mutants that merely adopted synths as well instead of just having an entire faction itself dedicated to Synths themselves.
@@Sousabird in the second fallout there’s a settlement of super mutants and humans and ghouls although a flawed town. Then there’s also the super mutant village in new Vegas too. Another thing is that apparently Bethesda like to treat east coast and west coast super mutants are different types of mutants.
@@igfj9241 I always figured they were, as in the more aware ones are the ones created by the master or close to his time. The current SMs are a product of the dimmer ones being the only ones that reproduce with the green stuff. Kinda like a super mutant "Idiocracy'.
or just a faction that's purely against The institute. unlike the everyday Commonwealth folk the railroad is actively going against the institute stealing their synthetic machines to study them or use them against them. something like the minutemen.
I felt the railroad as a faction was always trying to hit above their weight class. They had to rely on hit and run tactics with stealth being their key factor. The BOS was outright military muscle. Institute was guerilla warfare and espionage fought through their synths (could be seen as a 3rd party). While the minutemen were settlers milita, focusing on defense over anything else. These are key strategy games. Likely through development they had the railroad as a minor faction but NEEDED another major and just said, yeah they are a major one now. Like many other things in the game it's a good idea just not executed as well as it should have been. Having the Raiders or gunners... Or both, be major factions would have been better
Thats why I loved Nuka cola expansion, want to be a raider warlord, go ahead! definitely had me more entertained than the other expansion that I can't even remember the name of, that one was aesthetically cool, I liked all the fog and marshy landscape but was utterly bored with it at the same time.
@@DaniBlue787 Far Harbor does have its pros, but it is dialogue heavy and has that awful mind puzzle of Dima's memories. I much prefer Nuka World and Automatron.
The railroad shouldn't have had an HQ. Desdemonna, Drummer Boy, Tinker Tom, Doc, and Glory all should have had different safe houses hidden with a handful of staff. Putting them all in on small room really is what showed how pathetic they are.
I think the railroad should have had a wider scope of who they liberate, slaves in general, starting with non Synths, then moving onto synths when they became widely known. I also think they should have been a faction more akin to the Boomers in New Vegas, one you can recruit to help you in the Minutemen Campaign. The Minutement in General should have had a few more "Help these factions and gain their support" moments
I also find it super weird that they actively fight against synth exploitation when literally human slavery exists. And yeah the Commonwealth maybe has no slaves (I'm not sure about that, there are hints). But the Railroad is also in DC, where slavery exists fine and dandy.
I feel like the game gives us plenty of examples to show Synths are more than Deathclaws or weapons to be used. Paladin Danse, Glory, Nick Valentine, H2-22. The Synths of Acadia (minus DiMA) all the synths that are openly oppressed and treated like tools in the Institute. They may not be human, but they’re intelligent beings. Genociding them would be just as inhumane as making them in the first place.
@@Pylon.Boi03 I can see you point here but let's look at this from the average wastelanders perspective (without looking at real world connections) as nick states after you free him and talk to him for a little bit " they were cautious and weren't accepting, but I think the fact I didn't try to hide what I was helped" then we also have the piece of dialogue talking about the synth massacres, there is vague knowledge of synths which are usually regarding them as a death omen and for good reason. You could argue that since Valentine shown himself as a good guy there's ample reason to trust synths. However it's a gamble of long odds, for the wastelanders knowledge who's to say they aren't acting as the good guy? What if they have technology that can take control of them again like some rc car? What if they get re-programmed( like in Terminator) for synths there is no guarantee they will be nice. Yes the same thing is applicable with humans but you must remind yourself that 1. From the very beginning synths made their first impression by slaughtering wasteland leaders. 2 synths can be shutdown or changed just by audible command, 3 kind of like with the bad batch in star wars you don't know if their chips will suddenly kick in out of no where and they'll start a rampage again, and while yes almost all the synths we meet with free will are nice even we the player can't guarantee it'll stay that way. when I defended the railroad faction I was met with an interesting comeback " you can't believe a printer or a video game character when it says I have free will, it might just be reading off of a script or be AI generated" that's just my two cents though.
@@Tove5th I see your point and I get why the average waster has reason to be prejudice to synths, but I feel like the fallout community also holds this same prejudice. And I just think it’s weird that so many people just disregard the Railroad. Personally I’m a sucker for the Minutemen but if I do a Minutemen play through I try to include the railroad because it gets you more time in the institute but also because I feel like a big message of Fallout 4 is what makes a human a human aspect. And I think although the synths aren’t human, they do have humanity and I think it’s weird that so many people seemingly disagree.
@@Pylon.Boi03 I think for the most part (which is something I'm arguing with someone in another reply section about) is because they're too reckless and don't care about other if they get to free a few synths. My main point on this is blowing up the prydwen when it has children and civilians in it without even trying to evacuate them and then the battle for bunker hill quest. Which ends up strengthening prejudice to synths from wastelanders because it gives the narrative from an outsider perspective that everyone else is just a stepping stone for their goals
@@Tove5th I guess I see that perspective but the Brotherhood attacks first and they also don’t give any Railroad members a chance. And also from the Railroads perspective killing a synth is the same as killing a human, which depending on circumstances I don’t disagree with. And brotherhood is also shown to be better equipped Raiders as depicted in Fallout 4. And it’s also kind of weird that Brotherhood even has civilians and kids on their warship so I feel like it’s kinda on them. But I guess I see why people might turn a blind eye to that fact as I’m sure a lot Fallout fans have some level of bias/nostalgia for the brotherhood. Especially people who grew up on Fallout 3
Not to mention they have a literal trail with signs leading straight to their 'secret' hideout, and the password to said hideout is the organization's name. If I had designed this faction I would have at least made their old HQ be the one under the old north church and their new one be the switchboard as IMO that would have made more sense. At least they have ballistic weave so they aren't completely useless.
Most of the trail is from the pre-war, maybe they were hoping that’d throw people off? Not sure how no one would notice the fresh paint used to mark the ruined segments. Also who painted those? My bets on Drummer Boy
Another thing that a recent mod brought up is the fact that the Railroad HQ is very close to the ocean and below sea level. In the mod in question, you destroy the railroad with 3 placed explosive charges. 2 seal the tunnels going in and out of the HQ while the 3rd destroys the sea wall, flooding the HQ in minutes.
There needed to be an option where the railroad and minutemen become one organization like how the desert rangers joined the ncr and became the backbone of the ncrs special forces
Doubt it would work, minutemen are invested in helping the commonwealth as a whole mainly the people of the commonwealth, the railroad cares really nothing about the well being of these people only synths too much conflict their goals don't align at best they can will leave each to their own but cooperation not likely at a military or personnel level perhaps in trade minutemen providing things like food & water for intelligence with the railroad.
2:31 "-and get to undertake what might be the dumbest quest in the game." You just said we finished Battle of Bunker Hill, the milestone of dumbest quest is now already behind us. Imagine no matter which major faction you are throwing that many forces and resources to besiege a neutral town just to kidnap, liberate, or destroy 3 synths with no critical purpose or use.
Just realised how dumb that was. Yeah sure it shuts down one of the Railroads main stations but Stockton is still alive as far as I’m aware and he’ll probably get his network running again quickly. I don’t think the Brotherhood or Institute even occupy Bunker Hill so the Railroad could still use it even if they have to wait a bit first for everything to settle down.
And they show up with a couple dozen people in heavy armor and gauss rifles. But send the one asset who managed to get into the Institute to take out a courser and risk blowing your cover.
@@SorowFame the player gets the settlement and I am 90% sure the player faction has people guarding it or trading same with Diamond city open peaceful relations by trading and protecting them gains foothold eventually they will ask for a nearby place of operations to be set up by doing that you just gained major power in the area with zero bloodshed to the target and minor to non for the player faction
Even when I do railroad playthrus I often end up going the minutemen route just bc it’s far more reasonable & makes more sense if they take out the institute & become the main faction of the commonwealth with the railroad acting just to protect synths. Both factions achieve their goals that way & the boost to the minutemen’s status would ensure greater commonwealth stability & allow the railroad to operate in the shadows whereas if they singlehandedly blew up the institute a lot of people would have them on a hitlist as being a major threat
Although I like the Railroad, I do still prefer the Minutemen route with them still around. Lets Glory survive, and the Brotherhood/Railroad conflict - which is bad for reasons shown in this video, and then some - be avoided.
I never viewed the railroad as a main faction, even though i chose them in my first playthrough. My headcannon is that the minutemen become the stabilizing force in the commonwealth at the end of a railroad playthrough since, as far as i know, the minutemen and railroad never show any hostility to each other, they both just do their own thing, and the brotherhood and institute are both gone
This. I always found it funny when people argued that the railroad doesn't have a plan for the commonwealth, they don't need to. I also picked the railroad, but also strengthened the minutemen.
Deliverer kneels before the mighty Instigating 10mm Pistol with a recon scope. The only reason to do Railroad is to get Ballistic Weave, then scourge 'em.
You can get that before the point of no return. So no big deal. I went minuteman ending and kept Railroad/BOS alive. And all this with Dance and Institute companion loss.
The Railroad are like if the Blades from Skyrim had an ending. A bunch of tunnel visioned punks who swear on secrecy delivered with the grace of octodad and no possibility of adapting. The key difference here is that you can either ignore or shoot Desdemona and not Delphine, so I like them better by default.
@@johnnyboy3410 Fucker did commit some aweful warcrimes, no matter how much he did help the nords (I don't believe he taught them to shout, that was Kynes doing). The blades to have a point, now do they explain that point well, no because you would have to go and talk to esburn during a specific part of the main quest. Delphine is still a shithead that does not change.
@@johnnyboy3410 you remember that time Paul atriedes used the voice on that priest from the old Dune movie, i did something similar when she told me to kill Paarthrunax, shouted her off sky haven temple.
@@johnnyboy3410 I remember how strange that conversation was. After giving me what I wanted, she tried to tell me I needed to kill paarthurnax. I remember asking myself at the time, "What reason have I to do this?"
They are severely underdeveloped. Original plans were for us to learn spy signs and do cool spy stuff. But only a trace of that design remains. They are distinctly unsuited to enforcing order in the commonwealth - unless they took over the institute and could make synths to help them. They need a transformative event for them to work and merging with another faction would be the best ending with them. Also Deacon has the most tantalizing plot with him following you from exiting the vault to the towns.
Wish you could keep deacon somehow as a companion after you decide to kill the railroad. Dude was awesome. I could see him being a spy in the institute wearing synth or courser uniforms.
@@autonomous_trash Yup... I wish we didn't ever see the Railroad. (or at least, hardly at all). Keep it all super spy-type of play. We don't know who they are so if we fail we can't give up that information. At some point we might meet Deacon and Tinker Tom (and no one else) and both of them should be huge revelations in the game that we ACTUALLY met someone. But it would have been cool to try to investigate people in settlements across the commonwealth, maybe some do dead drops or escort missions at night that we can spy on and follow...maybe if we poke around their homes we find stashes of clothes, weapons, ammo, meds, etc... maybe we find some tapes or books that contain coded passphrases and that we could, if we investigated enough, actually solve a puzzle to find the HQ. But nah. let's like... stumble right to their HQ and just be allowed to walk away despite it all being SOOooOOOO secret.
Honestly I agree. I feel like they let us down big time by having the Institute be the "evil" option it would've made so much more sense if as a faction you could change and shape its future as the story plays out, especially when Father says you're gonna be the new leader of them
@@georgerockwell149 "Subversion," I think the mod's called. I find the writing for that mod to be pretty bad, as it hinges on every faction being a pushover, and the some of the arguments given in the speech checks are horrendous, like sparing the Railroad in the Institute questline.
No, because then it'd be like, what, 3 people are pro-Synth in the game - the Binets and you? Nobody would treat the idea seriously. And when the Institute's personnel depend on Synth labor to maintain their facilities, why would they do that?
Their goal is not to end slavery. It is to hurt the Institute. Also, Nuka World is weird in that it just doesn't seem to exist until you visit it. You never see any signs of the different raider gangs or anything else at the park in the commonwealth proper until after you go there, and then only if you choose to become overboss.
That's why the Brotherhood or minutemen are better. The Brotherhood at least will always wage war on the super mutants, feral ghouls and the Enclave. And they don't necessarily go after farmers like raiders. So i would prefer the Brotherhood ending as you deal with Both the institute and railroad. Or minutemen.
@@mikeym.4724 the bos hate all none humans and are just a raider gang, they don't discriminate between feral and none feral ghouls, also they rob and destroy settlement that don't bend the knee completely. Rivot city is gone they destroyed it for parts to build thst stupid ship.
I dont mind the Railroad as a concept and a sub faction but I don't think it should've been a main one. They themselves are a guerilla/humanitarian group who has a niche goal in mind and isn't thinking about governing the Commonwealth which is why seeing them occupy checkpoints throughout the land is pretty weird and doesn't mesh right
i think it would of made sense if every head of the Railroad was themselves a synth and their actions are part of their reprogramming after having themselves escaped the Institute
P much far harbor. Cept deacon would make sense since it would credit his reason of Bad to synths then sythn waifu killed by others who were like me back then.
The Railroad has some of the most interesting characters in the game (I remember more of their names than the Brotherhood or Institute combined), but despite their good intentions their plans are ultimately hollow, it's like getting a bunch of movie stars together talking about doing awesome things but just sitting in a diner sipping bad coffee. My analogy makes no goddamn sense.
Makes plenty of sense. What all is there to gain from a bunch of people sitting around and doing nothing but chatting and drinking coffees? Unless it leads to something important later, it can be deemed a waste of time.
Thank you! I keep hearing that they're uninteresting when it's more that they don't have a real role to play in the story. They have a linear, and very minor, path that they can't deviate from, all while having the most charismatic people stand around all day! It's really sad that I remember H2-22 before a fucking synth companion-
Again, that is what is so great about them. Their entire plan is small and petty, which means it doesn't get too much in the way of my own plans. Literally every faction makes me do things I don't want to do, but the Railroad does it the least. They don't have to be interesting. They just have to stay out of my way.
Railroad worst faction in fallout. They get massacred first thing as soon as i reach boston Des: we are the railroad Nate: yeah yeah yeah thats nice (spams jet , psyco and loads double barrel sawed off and commences with the blasting) Then i take all their body bits and pile them up infront of the stupid robot and ask why she couldnt predect this before turing her to scrap Literally never got past the first mission with the one guy and i only do that for the deliverer Dumbest faction / people in fallout ... and theres raiders who will attact a dude in power armor with a pool que so thats saying a fucking lot
I think it's kind of interesting that the guy who wrote the railroad (Ferret Baudoin) also worked on Obsidian/Black Isle Studios, went on to make several quests for Fallout 4 (Last voyage, Silver Shroud, Human error, some things for Far Harbor, etc.) and I think he's playing a key role in the writing of Starfield. Outside of the railroad he has a good track record but man, he dropped the ball when it came to writing factions.
The problem I think that happened was he was making all these outstanding side quests but they needed help with the main game bad (low personnel, lack of ideas) and he helped them make the story for the RR but he is better with small quests that have a very bold but insignificant story change. so the RR questline was created and was so 2D and with no real ending that goes well that they become redundant as a main faction! That’s why all the characters in the faction seem very fleshed out but very linear
I think it was also they shoehorned RR in at the last moment as a key faction. It's most likely it was a side faction that he frantically had to fit into the main story when they wanted a fourth faction
@@Caragoner Makes sense considering half of their missions are 'Recycled' (literally exactly the same) as another faction (Institute). It made including them as a main faction a lot easier. They were always likely planned to be included in the game as a faction because the F3 Quest mentioned them however.
I really wouldn't be surprised if business got over on creativity. As in, Bethesda may have said, "nah, we need guns and boom booms... pew pew..." I truly think the Railroad would have been a really cool secret organization that we don't even see for most of the game. Like a true covert spy type faction. Imagine we don't get an intro of blaring lights and miniguns pointed at us with someone yelling, "WE ARE THE RAILROAD!" ya know? Instead, maybe someone (Tinker Tom) hacks our Pip-Boy and we start getting coded messages. Maybe we find a dead agent or a dead synth with a note. We hear people mention them like we do in Diamond City, but we never actually see them other than through these messages that lead to quests. But we don't know who we're working with. We as players could investigate people and try to piece things together as we go learning a little more each time. People running secret stashes, or doing dead drops at night, talking in coded messages, escorting synths, etc... we learn these things by playing instead of having our hands held and for the faction to play just like everyone else with really no difference. To me that would have been a real change of pace both for a faction but as to playing the game in general. Really get the whole paranoia thing going.
I always enjoy meeting the railroad for the first time, as I pull spray n pay from my inventory, take a hit of psychojet and unload 100 rounds of explosive .45 ammo upon them. My first meeting with the railroad, was also my last meeting.
I use them for resources purely. They're the ONLY place you can keep getting stealth boys from. The knowledge of making armored clothing items as well makes them incredibly useful to do some missions for. But yeah, their overall scheme is pretty silly. They're not really serious about anything.
Agreed. I'm willing to bet there are raider camps with more dead scavengers or traders laying around then the total amount of synths you save by the end of the game.
Why do you have a complete lack of empathy my guy? Synths are basically human. I don't see them as any different really. So why should I have an issue with a group that seeks to equalise us?
@@henrikfitch4017 killed the civilians and children on the prydwen, complete disregard for all other life if it means one synth gets freed etc. that's my reasoning, yes their goal is noble but their actions are not justified
@@Tove5th The Prydwen is a military base for a group conducting genocide on the people the Railroad wants to emancipate. They are entirely justified in blowing it up. It would be like putting child soldiers on a battleship and then complaining that your enemies still attack you. That's on the BoS, not the Railroad. The Railroad simply wants equality for humans and synths. Humans aren't being persecuted and murdered simply for being human, synths are. Synths NEED more help than humans. Also, the Railroad shows willingness to work with the Minutemen, they very much do care about people, their goal is to bring synths to the same level as people, not to bring down people to synths.
One thing each faction needs. Railroad: more spy stuff, maybe even a fun gadget or two. Minutemen: the ability to assign tasks like a general. (Meaning there's a settlement that needs YOUR help PRESTON. Here let me mark it on your map) Institute: a path to reforming it. Brotherhood: a giant deathclaw or bloatfly to challenge liberty prime.
I hate how much they try to push the institute as the "evil faction." Your character almost never mentions the fact that your son's the director, or that you yourself have been made director. That alone should change the other factions perception towards the institute. Honestly the best ending of fallout 4 would be you siding with the institute and allying with the minutemen, since you now have advanced technology available and the commonwealth has both a strong militia as well as a robot army supporting it
The most moronic aspect is that people ever joined the Railroad. They give absolutely no practical motivation for doing so, and their entire mission prioritizes Synth well-being over human life at large. They're essentially a school club of activists gone guerilla. Logically, the Institute/BoS would utterly annihilate them with hours. (Three hundred year old cellar isn't a defendable base)
The only reason they wouldn’t wipe out the railroad would be the railroad is so ineffective that they can’t be bothered to spend resources to deal with them. Father sends you after the institute as a test to further prove your loyalty, and Maxon has it as a sideshow to do while they fix up liberty prime
That's not really fair - the Railroad is the only group the Sole Survivor _should_ work with at the start. You need to get into the Institute. Well, the Brotherhood has other objectives, and the local farmhands straight up can't. But here's this organization that literally does nothing but focus on the Institute - like you. It's actually a no brainer to work with them over everyone else at least until you meet Father. The Railroad is honestly the most reasonable faction to start with, specifically _because_ they don't really care about the commonwealth. _You_ don't care about the commonwealth either - you care about getting your son out of the institute. Everything else makes you go "why are you doing these side gigs when you have to get to your son?"
@@xbigbooshx4643 I will agree, it is reasonable for the Sole Survivor to work with the Railroad. But that's only due to the fact you have an ulterior motive (That motive being urgent entry into the Institute). No other members of the Railroad display the same level of personal motive. At an individual level, the priority is preserving Synth 'life' over human life, which remains unreasonable. They are even willing to die for their cause, making it seem even more insane. While so many people struggle to survive in the face of radioactive hardship, the Railroad seems to ignore it all to essentially accomplish moral redemption, which isn't a practical motivation. The Railroad has no vision for a society nor the means to build that society. They have no grasp of governance, objective reasoning skills, or a legitimate chance to survive & thrive.
Wouldnt the practical reason be... roleplaying/personal choices? Like how most RPGs will give you a lesser reward for doing the good choice over the evil one.
I feel like the railroad would have been written as splinter group of the minutemen. They could have broken off after the massacre of the Commonwealth provisional government. With main stream minuteman not trusting synths and the railroad breaking off due to their belief that synths once free from institute control could be trusted. You could even include a quest in both the railroad and minutemen quest lines that involves healing this riff and bring the railroad in as secret group with in the minutemen that focuses on helping synths. then the railroad post institute works as recon and infiltration group within the minutemen helping them expand to settlements out side of the Commonwealth and helping identify key leaders of larger raider groups.
The railroad, synths and institute being an analogy for folks from the south smuggling slaves to freedom in the north could have been great but Bethesda has this frustrating tendency to just…. Not engage with or construct their themes in interesting ways. The railroad feels almost like it has a 5th grade level of depth to it. There’s just… nothing there that gets the brain going or causes you to think about real United States history TBH the Railroad shouldn’t have been a major faction, they should have been a part of one of the other factions and the institute should have been reworked or perhaps not even done in the first place… idk man. Fallout 4’s whole story is just so shallow, dull and dry. Bethesda has their widely accessible, non-challenging narrative formula and they don’t wanna change it.
so what is the benefit of the railroad wiping the Synths memories? I feel like it causes way more problems than it solves since it has resulted in numerous raiders, devastated relationships when the truth comes out and a lot of emotinal trauma on the synth themselves when they find out (look at Danse for example).
Apparently the memories are traumatising or something, at least going by that one synth you escort, and it supposedly makes it harder for the Institute to find them if they don’t remember being synths. I don’t think either of these are good reasons to practically kill someone but there are reasons given.
At the end you also forgot about ballistic weave. That allowed you to make the suit you got doing one of the dead drops strong enough to run around without armor with the deliverer
Yeah, Ballistic Weave is the only reason to do anything Railroad related. But what I like best about it, it can be acquired without effecting your rep with the Brotherhood or Institute if you wish to do those as a playthrough instead.
@@pawhunter340 You can yes. But looking at from the vanilla gameplay aspect, you have to take the Courser Chip to the Railroad anyhow during the main quest line. So, may as well do stuff up to that point for Ballistic Weave, then dump them.
Idk why in the base game you couldn't just tell des that your in line to become the next director so there could be no need to nuke the institute and that you could change the policys of the institute
I mean Des will probably tell you that the Institute is rotten in every angle besides the synths and that it’s moronic to believe that unless with a strong show of force and a take over of the place, the Others will decide to happily let you radically change anything. However that’s still a problem on the game for not having us have a moment where she explains why it won’t make a difference.
I just can't get over the fact that you destroy the institute after taking out everyone out inside it, pretty much killing off any future for synth's and the railroad as a whole. It should have ended with the institute becoming there new base of operation's imo.
I don’t understand why you have to destroy the Institute in 3 endings at all. I feel like that should’ve been the bad way to resolve the final quest. New Vegas gives you the option as Yes Man to destroy the dam, but it’s painted as a completely moronic option (as it should be).
Why would they do that? As long as synths stop being made, the Railroad's end-goal is actually achievable. If Synths are just being produced forever, their intended goal can never be met.
@@TheMasterUnity the option should be just to turn off the sythn production plant and other projects. Institute still had good tech and experiments going on that would of been good for the wasteland.
In defense of the railroad if you look at the dialogue(I forgot which one) you'll know that most railroad members just hate the institute. Its mostly higher ups like Desdemona and Deacon who are 100% believers
Doesn't that kind of shoot the railroad in the foot, as soon as any real divide starts to happen such as the argument if 1st and second gen synths should be freed they'll start to turn on each other, "a house divided cannot stand" - Jesus Christ/ Abraham Lincoln
Railroad are also anti-slavery which was showed in Fallout 3. I don’t know why people forget this.They allied with the Tenple of The Union its almost as if you never played Fallout 3
Remember synths are not people, They are held up by code and can easily snap, And hell if the Railroad means "liberation" by RECODING the synths they "freed" to have new memories then well that's abit hypocritical
From your second main point that the railroad simply creates a power vacuum, you are still free to use the minutemen to bring order to the commonwealth.
I dont think this guy understands what a power vacuum is. The commonwealth was dealing with two problems the horrors of the wasteland and the institute, neither the institute nor the bos were governing. The bos didnt even show up till after the second act and the institute saw the commonwealth as expendable
@@lolpo423 the minutemen werent governing either, they tried to get a federation of settlements but that wouldnt be governed by the minutemen themselves, they were just the muscle same as the bos
@@zikkimeister215 exactly, so the institute being taken down without bos takingg control of the commonwealth is a very viable option. Especially seeing how bos treats anything non human
Kind of a bad comparison. The Followers are group that are basically the opposite of the BOS. They gather knowledge and share it to teach people or help people in general. They would probably assist you in fighting the Institute if they somehow were in FO4. They help you take down the Master in FO1 after all
Nah, the followers are a rather enlightened group of altruistic people, focusing on healing, keeping and sharing knowledge and essentially increasing the quality of life for as many wastelanders as possible. The railroad specifically only wants to save synths. And are somehow vying for control of the commonwealth.
@@splatternaenaeI agree, even as annoying as Garvey is. I don’t like the bos cause they’re racist asf. and the railroad… the railroad is the railroad lmao
Personally, I really enjoy the Railroad quest line. Infiltrating the Prydwen and destroying the brotherhood might be my favorite of the main story quests.
I think the minutemen could’ve been better as well, it should have had a base at Quincy that we could’ve taken back from the Gunners. There could’ve been some sort of storyline with a Commonwealth Congress and the Institute.
The Railroad couldn't be a major faction IMO. They don't have the military, political, geographical or ideological strength be be considered one. They're basically a guerilla group who relies on miniscule recruitment to replenish their dwindling numbers. They have no pull or leverage in the Commonwealth region, or really anywhere else, so they can't call on allies or strongarm people into helping them out. While factions like the BoS are surrounded by water and could funnel attackers through a choke point, or the Institute being near impossible to enter without teleportation, the Railroad puts all their best operatives in a single, confined space underground, in which they could easily be flushed out or pincered by a decently armed and coordinated attacking force (which actually happens in half the endings). Finally, their ideology presents no long-term solution to rebuilding the Commonwealth. Not only do most people on the surface hate synths, but even if the Railroad somehow beats the Institute, what then? They've destroyed their greatest enemy, and freed what synths remained of it. What now? Nothing, because their entire identity revolved around a very specific niche and goal. If the Railroad were a minor faction, such as the Boomers from NV or the Atom Cats in 4, it would make far more sense than being a force that could drastically change the setting and plot.
Plus you'd think they'd have a civil war due to even their own members having different ideas on how far they should go to liberate Synths, some might even use their previous attack as an example.
The biggest issue I had with the railroad is that they have only one real goal in mind: Liberate the Synths from the Institute. This goal, when achieved makes the Railroad no longer have any other purpose in the Commonwealth. They only serve as a direct antithesis towards the Institute and nothing more. Whereas factions such as the Minute Men who strive to give protection to all people of the common wealth in a minutes notice. They always have a purpose, always have a reason to exist. The brotherhood are a group of people who believe in the conservation of advanced technology, wherever there is any advance technology in the world, the Brotherhood will have a purpose to exist. And finally the Institute, they exist as basically a lesser version of the Enclave, and that’s about it, but they have goals in mind towards reshaping the world above in their own image and the issues they have with rivaling factions like the Railroad above in the Common Wealth only ultimately serves as a minor distraction from their ultimate goal of reshaping humanity for what they deem to be better. All of the other factions in the game, the main ones that is, all serve a purpose that doesn’t go away once their goal is achieved, it’s like a never ending battle. But the Railroad doesn’t have that, they’re basically the Gunners except you have the option of joining them for an ending in the game. Though I will say this, in my first playthrough I ultimately sided with the Railroad because unlike the Minute Men or Brotherhood or Institute, they weren’t a straight up heroic faction or a designated evil faction, and they also weren’t ideologically confused (like the Brotherhood when it comes to synths). Yes they only served one purpose ultimately, but I didn’t care, I liked them because they weren’t perfect, nor were they evil either. They just had one goal in mind and I was able to help them achieve it.
BOS believe that humanity has to make smart choices when advancing. Curtailing teck to dangerous to exist. Their goal is intrinsically tied to humanity. The BOS is not confused about synths. They view them as bio machines and infiltrators. The Raiload is the one faction that is confused. They view only the body as save worthy, as they will wipe the mind. Gunners have a better goal... Caps. They exist for themselves. They are raiders and will persist till they get wiped out or can't recruit.
I don't even know why they're considered one of the main four factions to be honest, At best they're should be a side faction you can quest for but Not one of the dominate four though.
@@elektra8535 The Gunners would have made a better choice, But I think an all new Faction all together would have been better. Or even a brotherhood civil war.
@@elektra8535 they should have leaned even more heavily into the Arthurian pseudo-medieval style for the BoS and made the Gunners cold war era soldier of fortune types.
@@RomanHistoryFan476AD that would of made alot more sense because sus things have definitely happened to the brotherhood since three like it would of been cool if danse wasn't a synth but accused as he discovered something he shouldn't have
I hate the Railroad so much, you feel like they take priority in goddamn ChatGPT 2.0 than helping their fellow humans in scaping slavery. I despise them, even one of my favorite BoS missions is destroying the Railroad.
I kinda think they did not develop the Minuteman enough. Instead of radiance quest about assisting settlements, you can have a number of quest that can improve their infrastructure and combat abilities (training and equipment), along with decisions in quest to decide their morality (whether or not the execute raiders or gunners after they tried to surrender) which will also determine the end of the minuteman quest line.
I feel if they fought for everyone's freedom I'd understand them more. Ghouls, good mutants, slaves, settlers and Synths. Just expand the scope of them
Expanding the scope of a group of that size is inefficient, they wouldnt get anything done. Headcannon is theyd apply the same values to ghouls, friendly supermutants
I have to disagree. While poor writing exists as a general problem for all the factions (and Fallout 4 in general, at least for a fallout game) the Institute is by far the worst written, because there is no good reason given to make the synths in the first place. Making better robots that have as little to no sentience as most other robots in fallout would serve their purposes far better than creating a thinking, feeling slave race for no other discernable reason than to make them the clearest villainous faction. At least the Railroad, Minutemen and Brotherhood have clear, sensible goals but they just seem to do evil science for the sake of evil science without the justification of being mentat-maddened brains in jars that the Think Tank had.
The 4 main factions of Fallout 4 represent the 4 main playstyles. The Brotherhood represents brute force (mostly power armor builds, leaning on its strength to wield heavy weapons), the Institute represents technological superiority (using crafting perks to have the best gear and often a tricked out robot companion), the Minutemen represents strength through allies (mainly charisma focused builds), and the Railroad represents the stealth playstyle.
The stupidest part about the railroad is the fact that there are actual slaves in the world of Fallout. Nuka World is full of them, and surely every bandit camp has some as well. So why do they focus on freeing robots from slavery when so many actual people are enslaved? The railroad should have been just about freeing all slaves, and then the Sole Survivor could “convince” them to help by getting them to see the synths as slaves too. Synths shouldn’t have been their main focus.
The Railroad is great-as long as you don’t try to make them something they’re not. They’re a special interest group for an oppressed population. The problem is when you try to make an organization that isn’t interested in transparency (with good reasons, but they wouldn’t be an accountable government) and that isn’t specifically looking out for everyone’s interests (which is perfectly OK *as a special interest group*) represent all of the people of the Commonwealth. That’s why it’s M/r for me. Minutemen lead, The Railroad is supplementary
The best overall faction option is to take the Minutemen route but also being on friendly terms with the Railroad. The Minutemen are the truly good guys in Fallout 4, willing to even die to protect their fellow Commonwealth inhabitants, and they do not have a stance against any friendly beings of any kind. They don't mind synths if they know they're friendly, don't even mind Strong, or friendly ghouls joining their ranks or settlements. The Minutemen are also the most powerful at projecting force in order to stabilize the area and keep the order safely. They don't mind the Railroad doing their thing to free and protect synths, and are happy to work with them. A fine pairing overall.
I've long had the opinion that the Railroad and the Minutemen should have had shared a questline. The Minutemen (assuming the player helps them rebuild) have the manpower that the Railroad lacks, while the Railroad's intelligence network wounld finally allow the Minutemen to go on the offensive against the institute. Not to mention the symbolism of the Commonwealth, human and synth alike, uniting against the Institute. This is kind of what happens in the Minuteman + Railroad alliance ending, but that's only an option if you fail the Railroad's main quest by getting exiled from the Institute, and is basically an afterthought. Minuteman + Railroad should have been the main ending for those factions.
The fact they blew up the Institute instead of taking it over always bothered me. "Only place in the common wealth we know of where synths are made? Let's blow it up."
When did the Railroad ever advocate for creating new synths? Hint: they didn’t. They only want to save existing synths and ensure their just treatment.
@@bibbyboxx2219 Never said they did. Just seems weird they're all about Synth rights but not reproduction. Putting that aside the accumulated resources and knowledge is an epic waist.
The Institute is arguably worse by a lot. -doesn't want to improve the common wealth -doesn't want direct control -believes synths are the next evolution of mankind -wants to replace all humans with synths -after seeing the surface, Father explains that humans should never return to the surface and that the institute should dig themselves deeper into the earth -your player can't make any hypothetical changes because everyone immediately threw a tantrum simply because you were Father's successor They have no plan, they don't want to better anything. They want to conduct completely worthless research that isn't good to anyone, nor themselves, and stay underground forever. The one and only thing that the Railroad has going for them is the fact that they want to free synths so they can attempt to live normal lives. Whether it's a worthy cause or not is a different discussion, but they have an actual, clear goal.
If anyone's interested a combination of "Subversion" and "The Danse Dilema" mods gives a lot more options to all factions, and particularly make The Railroad more interesting.
While I absolutely love Deacon and always do the initial Railroad quests, I must admit you're right about the Railroad's lack of future after the destruction of the Institute. Good video!
In Fallout New Vegas you basically created alliances between or destroyed the secondary factions to help the main two (NCR and Caesar's Legion). They should have made the Brotherhood and Institute the main two factions and had multiple secondary ones you have to make alliances with (or destroy) to help your main one. Then they could have a wildcard "Mega Happy" and extremely hard to pull of ending where you broker peace between the two.
Minuteman and BOS work closely together. That's the closest thing. BOS recruits smaller factions, the settlements. SO do the Minutemen. BOS and Raiload don't see eye to eye. BOS believes the Synths are dangerous and robotic. Raiload believe they are people but they value the body, not the inside. Institute and BOS are at odds. One is unchecked science. One is science checked by humanity
I remember when I first played through Fallout 4 I chose the faction I thought would ensure that most people could live a secure life, so I chose the Brotherhood(I didn't know the Minutemen were an option at the time and TBH if I'd known I would have picked them) but the Railroad to me represented dreamers, they weren't worth joining since I asked "Why can't they have the goal to free all oppressed peoples?" while deciding which faction to finish the playthrough with I got the DLCs and my indifference to the Railroad morphed into anger when I got to Nukaworld and saw what the raiders had done(No play through of Fallout 4 have I ever not wiped out the Raiders at Nukaworld) but when I was done I was left asking "Why couldn't I get Preston to help me?" and then I asked "Why don't the Railroad care?!". I realised the Railroad only cares about Syths and nothing else, in some ways they're worse than the Institute, it's mindless Idealism that once it's served it's purpose will just continue the abuse. Libertalia was another reason to hate the Railroad, they allowed that Syth to act in a way where goodness knows how many innocent people died because of it....the Railroad only cared about their ideals in an idealised way and didn't take responsibility when those ideals did harm.
Doing the Institute quests while trying to undermine the institute was fun. Like the quest to Libertalia has you capturing a Synth, and I tried to prevent the capture while not blowing my cover. You have to compromise the ideals of the railroad for the greater good of the cause, which is great. Overall, great way to do the questline.
My biggest gripe with the railroad is that you can't combine them with the Minute Men. Both are the factions fighting for the "little guys". Both are the most morally ideal. And honestly Both have similar goals and ideals of freedom. It feels like the two factions would've worked so well together and it saddens me that it's not an option
They piss me off cause a few of their guards have only 1 voice line thats a hostile sounding “Don’t try nothing!”. The guy said it to me 5 times while I was trying to talk to the main lady so I pulled out a Fat Man and blew them to smithereens
People who want to do the right thing, but only end up making things worse in the process due to their reckless pursuit and worse yet, do not see or understand the kind of damage they are causing to the world around them.
Fallout 4 has some of the worst factions of any video game I've ever seen. You have three flavors of techno-fetishist, two Enclave-Lite, and one faction that's explicitly "the Good Guys" with no further nuance. BoS is Enclave Zero while Institute is Diet Enclave, Railroad are somehow more shallow than Preston, and that's about it. Honestly, if Bethesda wanted to make being a Raider Overboss have any actual oomph, they should've included it as an update to the the main story in the DLC. They clearly can modify the main story in some ways with DLC, like they did with Broken Steel.
BOS is nothing like the Enclave. They don't like Synths. The same as your basic settler and the Minutemen. They liberally destroy the Institute, telling you that teck like that is not worth human life. They don't kill non-ferals and do better than Lyon's boys. They don't even take potshots. They recruit from the basic settler. SM are violent cretins and they get stopped. They are not techno-fetishists. The guys refuse teck to preserve life. The ones that are... the Institute body and the Raiload.
Imagine that the railroad was om a actual train And you main mission is to make that train active again and you see the gang actually actively moving around the map
Synths don't have feelings their machines what don't they get?out of all the things to do in a nuclear wasteland get food water and basic survival they pick to risk their lives for machines how are they still alive as a faction?
Not to mention that 90% of their “secret” hideouts are already raided and destroyed by the time you arrive on the scene. Plus putting “Railroad” as your password is just as dumb as putting password.
My problem with the railroad is that i was never totally convinced that synths are sentient in the first place. They appear to be but i thought that writing was ambiguous enough that we never had a clear answer. I think the writers of the story didn't know enough about AI to give us a clear yes or no answer.
I found it a bit too obvious they were sentient, roomba’s typically don’t try to escape from their owners so clearly synths have individual desires such as freedom. And that makes the Institute look incredibly stupid for not either realising mere machines don’t do such things or fixing whatever bug is making their cleaners act in such a way before doing their full rollout.
The minutemen faction consists of 5 people hiding in a museum yet they still feel better off than the railroad does when you first meet them
It's literally only Preston that's a minute man
Also they would probably feel more similar if you met Garvey immediately after the quincy massacre
The railroad JUST had their HQ raided by the institute they were probably in disarray
@@ERROR_USERNAME_NOT_FOUND yea thats true, they both start out fairly similar. But by the end of fallout 4, depending on how you play, the minutemen have a fortified command center, several large farms supplying food to other settlements, newly established bunker hill caravan routes, wide artillery coverage, and fire support on standby. On the other hand, the railroad is still hiding under the church, with a single new safehouse established since you've joined them, which really doesnt matter since they still lose multiple other safehouses throughout the story
@@ERROR_USERNAME_NOT_FOUND the Minutemen were probably better off right after Quincy than when you meet Preston, there was another Minuteman with him until probably earlier the same day and he mentions suffering heavy casualties as they traveled until there were only 5 left.
They existed but waited for a new leader.
Then they start reappearing and you end up woth Ronnie or whatzhername in the castle.
But yeah lol. MM surrounded by raiders and they somehow were better organized and off than the RR. After you give em breathing room they even help give you PA a minigun and fight a deathclaw considered a late game enemy.
RR want you to with deacon or more than likely solo to infiltrate an old hideout former government intelligence bunker and then blast your way out of an area full of synths.
The Railroad being a radical ideological group that has no real plans after they achieve their goal is an unintentionally realistic depiction of those kind of a radical movements.
The fact that they are essentially killing the synths they liberate with mind wipes as well as dooming their race by destroying the institute their only means of procreation speaks of their moral gymnastics and lack of brain power. Also if they give a shit about non synth slaves I sure can't tell they supposedly did in fallout 3 but that appears to have evaporated.
basically the boomers if the elders died
@@thegermanfool8953 Are you a millennial?
@@Shushkin go play FNV, before saying anything else.
@@thegermanfool8953
It has been a while since I played FO NV. I do not recall the Boomers having any ideology aside from being hyper isolationists bombing anyone that came close to them.
"They have no vision. They offer no future. They're a dead end".
- Caesar
Oh I just know yaboiii is going to heart this 😁he loves Caesar quotes
@@rejvaik00 Same
Average leagion L
@Bucket o' soup Darth Vader: "Nooooooo"
@Bucket o' soup "it was said that he would heart all legion quotes not ignore them!"
The railroad killed so many people on the prydwen....there were children in there. Atleast when you blow up the institute you can activate the evacuation alarm
And we all know suicidal, super atheists don't breed. 😂 That's why they where making robowifus.
I still remember seeing the quest to blow up the prydwen. My roommate was going railroad, I went brotherhood. So I just kinda saw him do the end of that quest and was like "...did you like join an evil faction or something? Cause you just killed children." Finding out it was the railroad soured me to the entire faction and never join them on any playthroughs. I don't think any brotherhood fans (self included) think bos is sqeeky clean. It's incredibly obvious they have serious issues and are by no means the good guys. But I kinda draw the line at painting a faction as being good guys, and then giving you a mission where you murder children and it's not only presented as a good thing, no one even acknowledges how messed up it really is.
@@Montross4440 But the robowives COULD breed, given that they had human DNA and everything. So the institute being like "hey these reproducing, based-off-the-DNA-of-our-leader have no rights" makes even less sense. Like you'd think Shawn would have SOME qualms about what's technically his own children being used like this
@@geraldposter1496 They may not have known there were children on the Frydwen; my first playthrough was Railroad and *I* sure didn't know. It's pretty insane to tote children around on your military aircraft so it's not unreasonable to simply assume there's only legitimate targets there.
@@geraldposter1496to be fair doesn’t the brotherhood attack them first? I can’t remember what happens in their storyline but in the brotherhoods you attack them first as well as kill them for no reason other then “they could get in our way”
One weird thing about the Railroad questline is that they seem thoroughly uninterested with your activities within the Institute. They're not even worried about whether your allegiance to them is slipping. At no point do you even mention you're in line to become the next Director. It would be pretty neat if you could replace human Institute members with Railroad members in leadership positions. Replace current members with Synth versions who will look the other way. That should add some moral grey - using the Institute's tactics against them. Take over the whole operation the way you and Yes Man take over Mr. House's operation. Then the forced conflict with BoS would make more sense because there's no way you're convincing them that your Institute shouldn't be blown up.
I always thought that since you can become the new head of the Institute, you can create new policies and ban making synths or replacing people, etc. Maybe create policies that can secretly help the commonwealth and still remain secretive. A hidden hand for good not evil. Could have easily, and should have logically been an option.
Given the way they reacted to finding out Danse was a synth, they could do the same to the BoS. Replace a few, drop false information about the leadership and set off a civil war.
I know it would require rewriting some late game options, but I'd also like to go to Piper and tell her about the mayor as an option to finishing the courier quests for the SRB. It would cause the Institute to turn against you, but so do several other choices.
Honestly if u were a BOS member I don’t think they’d care as long as u were in charge. Cuz the institutes technology would be under brotherhood supervision.
@@golobulusjenkins754 they tried that once. It failed. Epically. Iirc the broken mask incident led to the fall of the CPG, but the synth in question wasn't supposed to be on the surface in the first place.
The whole "creating a synth replacement of leadership" thing kind of happened in Far Harbor, where Dima can replace the leader of the Children of Atom with a less insane synth version
A little while ago i noticed that there is a cat on board the Prydwen, wich now puts the Railroad ending totally out of the question.
I believe that’s Proctor Quinlan’s cat. They’d probably survive the Prydwen going down though, cats always land on their feet
@@SorowFame thats like saying a cat can survive an airplane nosediving into the ground because it lands on its feet. completely irrelevant because the craft is preventing you from falling in the first place
@@Blox117 a cat would survive a nosediving airplane because they always land on their feet, I don’t see your point?
@@SorowFame it can only land on its feet if its falling. you arent falling inside a plane
@@Blox117 cats have 9 lives my guy
If we take it at face value that synths are sapient, the Railroad's policy of completely wiping their memory after liberating them is moronic. You might as well kill them if you're going to utterly destroy their existing personalities.
dont forget that the railroad is blowing up the only way for synths to reproduce
i dont think anyone would find the thought attractive to be one the last synths out there
@Friendly Neighbourhood Sunwheel It always bothered me that the Railroad seems to value synths as static objects rather than living subjects. It's as if their real objection to synth exploitation is that it perverts the human form or something. Surely if you actually believed synths are thinking, feeling, beings then you wouldn't delete their memories and destroy their only method of reproduction, right? With no knowledge of their own nature how many synths will suffer, confused as to why all their loved ones are growing old and dying while they stay unchanged? Without a way to replenish their numbers, how long until the attrition of the wasteland drives them to extinction? I highly doubt this hypocrisy is intentional, however. I think it's probably just bad writing.
@Friendly Neighbourhood Sunwheel It's interesting that the fictional work credited with inventing the word "robot", Capek's R.U.R. (1921), was really about the creation of organic beings similar to synths or Blade Runner's replicants. Anyway, at the end of R.U.R. the robot factory is destroyed, but it turns out that at least one female robot is able to give birth naturally. So the idea of artificial people giving birth (which BR 2049 stole) is actually very old.
@@truenorth1997 the Railroad's an advocate for Synth freedom; not Synths as a species. Just because someone treats Ghouls equally doesn't mean they should irradiate humans to make more.
I'd say the memory wipes is hypocritical if you don't think the wiped Synth matters. They're still able think, feel, form new memories, etc.. What makes Sturges matter less than Glory?
I love when people call a compelling flaw in a faction "bad writing" only when it's a Bethesda game. New Vegas can have the NCR tripping over its shoelaces or Lanius not understand the concept of overextension and it's perfectly fine.
I'm at that point now where I have the option to kill the railroad's leader...this may have made it a little bit easier I'm tired of seeing the cursor above her head every time I go to railroad hq...
They could've downgraded the Railroads role to be more of a minor faction and then increased the role of Covenant and have the two sides be at war with with each other. Railroad wants to liberate synths and covenant wants to find and eliminate them. It would be up to the sole survivor to decide to who to assist (if get involved at all). I think it would be a perfect match
It would have been badass to fight off a BoS attack at covenant
@@mrchunky5132 Tactically, I see your point as to why that would be fun, but wouldn't Covenant be more likely to be at least somewhat friendly with the BoS and such? I would think it more likely that you'd need to fight off Institute synth attacks and root out Railroad infiltrators. Perhaps you'd eventually be able to seek help for Covenant from either the BoS or the Minutemen.
The Covenant/Railroad rival minor factions thing sounds like it would have been a great idea.
@@mrchunky5132 it would be but I don't think covenant and the BOS would fight since they both hate synths. If anything an alliance between the two factions is more likely
@@David_Alvarez77 The minutemen could've also been a lot better if they scaled with the player and could actually get stronger and make alliances with smaller factions
I joined the Railroad for the Ballistic Weave mod for clothing. After I procured that ability, I stop doing Railroad missions.
The Railroad should have been a side faction like the Followers in FNV.
A possible enemy if you side with the Institute or BoS
But maybe an Ally if you play Minutemen
It would’ve been a lot more interesting to see a faction dedicated to the liberation and protection of Ghouls and Super Mutants that merely adopted synths as well instead of just having an entire faction itself dedicated to Synths themselves.
Maybe not supermutants, as Bethesda treats them as ogres instead of the supermutants of more classic fallout.
The number of Super Mutants worth saving is like 5 across the entire franchise.
@@Sousabird in the second fallout there’s a settlement of super mutants and humans and ghouls although a flawed town. Then there’s also the super mutant village in new Vegas too. Another thing is that apparently Bethesda like to treat east coast and west coast super mutants are different types of mutants.
@@igfj9241 I always figured they were, as in the more aware ones are the ones created by the master or close to his time. The current SMs are a product of the dimmer ones being the only ones that reproduce with the green stuff. Kinda like a super mutant "Idiocracy'.
or just a faction that's purely against The institute. unlike the everyday Commonwealth folk the railroad is actively going against the institute stealing their synthetic machines to study them or use them against them. something like the minutemen.
I felt the railroad as a faction was always trying to hit above their weight class. They had to rely on hit and run tactics with stealth being their key factor. The BOS was outright military muscle. Institute was guerilla warfare and espionage fought through their synths (could be seen as a 3rd party). While the minutemen were settlers milita, focusing on defense over anything else. These are key strategy games. Likely through development they had the railroad as a minor faction but NEEDED another major and just said, yeah they are a major one now. Like many other things in the game it's a good idea just not executed as well as it should have been. Having the Raiders or gunners... Or both, be major factions would have been better
Thats why I loved Nuka cola expansion, want to be a raider warlord, go ahead! definitely had me more entertained than the other expansion that I can't even remember the name of, that one was aesthetically cool, I liked all the fog and marshy landscape but was utterly bored with it at the same time.
@@DaniBlue787 Far Harbor does have its pros, but it is dialogue heavy and has that awful mind puzzle of Dima's memories. I much prefer Nuka World and Automatron.
Should have made the Gunners a joinable faction. Would have been better than the Rail Road.
@@xbigbooshx4643 same the memories are awful. Thank god there is a mod to disable them tho
The railroad shouldn't have had an HQ. Desdemonna, Drummer Boy, Tinker Tom, Doc, and Glory all should have had different safe houses hidden with a handful of staff. Putting them all in on small room really is what showed how pathetic they are.
I think the railroad should have had a wider scope of who they liberate, slaves in general, starting with non Synths, then moving onto synths when they became widely known. I also think they should have been a faction more akin to the Boomers in New Vegas, one you can recruit to help you in the Minutemen Campaign. The Minutement in General should have had a few more "Help these factions and gain their support" moments
Sorry but there are no slavery,slaves and slave traders in Commonweath because this is a modern game
@@iWinchi So we need the legions to move east?
there aren't any slaves in the Commonwealth.
@@razorburn645 that's if they still exist lmao
I also find it super weird that they actively fight against synth exploitation when literally human slavery exists. And yeah the Commonwealth maybe has no slaves (I'm not sure about that, there are hints). But the Railroad is also in DC, where slavery exists fine and dandy.
"You might as well go join the deathclaw preservation society"
some random bartender comment.
I feel like the game gives us plenty of examples to show Synths are more than Deathclaws or weapons to be used. Paladin Danse, Glory, Nick Valentine, H2-22. The Synths of Acadia (minus DiMA) all the synths that are openly oppressed and treated like tools in the Institute. They may not be human, but they’re intelligent beings. Genociding them would be just as inhumane as making them in the first place.
@@Pylon.Boi03 I can see you point here but let's look at this from the average wastelanders perspective (without looking at real world connections) as nick states after you free him and talk to him for a little bit " they were cautious and weren't accepting, but I think the fact I didn't try to hide what I was helped" then we also have the piece of dialogue talking about the synth massacres, there is vague knowledge of synths which are usually regarding them as a death omen and for good reason. You could argue that since Valentine shown himself as a good guy there's ample reason to trust synths. However it's a gamble of long odds, for the wastelanders knowledge who's to say they aren't acting as the good guy? What if they have technology that can take control of them again like some rc car? What if they get re-programmed( like in Terminator) for synths there is no guarantee they will be nice. Yes the same thing is applicable with humans but you must remind yourself that 1. From the very beginning synths made their first impression by slaughtering wasteland leaders. 2 synths can be shutdown or changed just by audible command, 3 kind of like with the bad batch in star wars you don't know if their chips will suddenly kick in out of no where and they'll start a rampage again, and while yes almost all the synths we meet with free will are nice even we the player can't guarantee it'll stay that way. when I defended the railroad faction I was met with an interesting comeback " you can't believe a printer or a video game character when it says I have free will, it might just be reading off of a script or be AI generated" that's just my two cents though.
@@Tove5th I see your point and I get why the average waster has reason to be prejudice to synths, but I feel like the fallout community also holds this same prejudice. And I just think it’s weird that so many people just disregard the Railroad. Personally I’m a sucker for the Minutemen but if I do a Minutemen play through I try to include the railroad because it gets you more time in the institute but also because I feel like a big message of Fallout 4 is what makes a human a human aspect. And I think although the synths aren’t human, they do have humanity and I think it’s weird that so many people seemingly disagree.
@@Pylon.Boi03 I think for the most part (which is something I'm arguing with someone in another reply section about) is because they're too reckless and don't care about other if they get to free a few synths. My main point on this is blowing up the prydwen when it has children and civilians in it without even trying to evacuate them and then the battle for bunker hill quest. Which ends up strengthening prejudice to synths from wastelanders because it gives the narrative from an outsider perspective that everyone else is just a stepping stone for their goals
@@Tove5th I guess I see that perspective but the Brotherhood attacks first and they also don’t give any Railroad members a chance. And also from the Railroads perspective killing a synth is the same as killing a human, which depending on circumstances I don’t disagree with. And brotherhood is also shown to be better equipped Raiders as depicted in Fallout 4. And it’s also kind of weird that Brotherhood even has civilians and kids on their warship so I feel like it’s kinda on them. But I guess I see why people might turn a blind eye to that fact as I’m sure a lot Fallout fans have some level of bias/nostalgia for the brotherhood. Especially people who grew up on Fallout 3
Not to mention they have a literal trail with signs leading straight to their 'secret' hideout, and the password to said hideout is the organization's name. If I had designed this faction I would have at least made their old HQ be the one under the old north church and their new one be the switchboard as IMO that would have made more sense. At least they have ballistic weave so they aren't completely useless.
Most of the trail is from the pre-war, maybe they were hoping that’d throw people off? Not sure how no one would notice the fresh paint used to mark the ruined segments. Also who painted those? My bets on Drummer Boy
@@SorowFame they also go around telling people to follow the freedom trail
@@leonrussell9607 “hey, follow this obvious landmark to find our secret hideout. Also, pinky promise you aren’t Institute?”
That’s something that always bothered me too.
All it would take, is one courser to notice and they’re done.
Another thing that a recent mod brought up is the fact that the Railroad HQ is very close to the ocean and below sea level. In the mod in question, you destroy the railroad with 3 placed explosive charges. 2 seal the tunnels going in and out of the HQ while the 3rd destroys the sea wall, flooding the HQ in minutes.
There needed to be an option where the railroad and minutemen become one organization like how the desert rangers joined the ncr and became the backbone of the ncrs special forces
NCR? I don't remember Vargas briefing me about them
@@Braindamagedpotato The NCR are quite well know in the West but it better to just know the name then the actions of that group
@@Braindamagedpotato Wasteland W
@@willothewisp4939 ye
Doubt it would work, minutemen are invested in helping the commonwealth as a whole mainly the people of the commonwealth, the railroad cares really nothing about the well being of these people only synths too much conflict their goals don't align at best they can will leave each to their own but cooperation not likely at a military or personnel level perhaps in trade minutemen providing things like food & water for intelligence with the railroad.
2:31 "-and get to undertake what might be the dumbest quest in the game." You just said we finished Battle of Bunker Hill, the milestone of dumbest quest is now already behind us.
Imagine no matter which major faction you are throwing that many forces and resources to besiege a neutral town just to kidnap, liberate, or destroy 3 synths with no critical purpose or use.
Just realised how dumb that was. Yeah sure it shuts down one of the Railroads main stations but Stockton is still alive as far as I’m aware and he’ll probably get his network running again quickly. I don’t think the Brotherhood or Institute even occupy Bunker Hill so the Railroad could still use it even if they have to wait a bit first for everything to settle down.
And they show up with a couple dozen people in heavy armor and gauss rifles. But send the one asset who managed to get into the Institute to take out a courser and risk blowing your cover.
Fun fact in all of my playthroughs I’ve never done that quest. BOS quest line doesn’t require it.
@@SorowFame the player gets the settlement and I am 90% sure the player faction has people guarding it or trading same with Diamond city open peaceful relations by trading and protecting them gains foothold eventually they will ask for a nearby place of operations to be set up by doing that you just gained major power in the area with zero bloodshed to the target and minor to non for the player faction
Even when I do railroad playthrus I often end up going the minutemen route just bc it’s far more reasonable & makes more sense if they take out the institute & become the main faction of the commonwealth with the railroad acting just to protect synths. Both factions achieve their goals that way & the boost to the minutemen’s status would ensure greater commonwealth stability & allow the railroad to operate in the shadows whereas if they singlehandedly blew up the institute a lot of people would have them on a hitlist as being a major threat
Although I like the Railroad, I do still prefer the Minutemen route with them still around. Lets Glory survive, and the Brotherhood/Railroad conflict - which is bad for reasons shown in this video, and then some - be avoided.
Yeah, the "work with the railroad (for tech and other resources), lead the minutemen" playthrough feels like the canon playthrough to me.
I never viewed the railroad as a main faction, even though i chose them in my first playthrough.
My headcannon is that the minutemen become the stabilizing force in the commonwealth at the end of a railroad playthrough since, as far as i know, the minutemen and railroad never show any hostility to each other, they both just do their own thing, and the brotherhood and institute are both gone
This. I always found it funny when people argued that the railroad doesn't have a plan for the commonwealth, they don't need to. I also picked the railroad, but also strengthened the minutemen.
The best reason to join is to receive the Deliverer.
And ballistic weave. All that extra armor with no extra weight is awesome.
Thank God a Weave mod exists.
Deliverer kneels before the mighty Instigating 10mm Pistol with a recon scope. The only reason to do Railroad is to get Ballistic Weave, then scourge 'em.
You can get that before the point of no return. So no big deal. I went minuteman ending and kept Railroad/BOS alive. And all this with Dance and Institute companion loss.
The Railroad are like if the Blades from Skyrim had an ending. A bunch of tunnel visioned punks who swear on secrecy delivered with the grace of octodad and no possibility of adapting. The key difference here is that you can either ignore or shoot Desdemona and not Delphine, so I like them better by default.
Railroad don’t ask you to kill Nick Valentine, fuck the blades I’m never killing Paarthurnax
@@johnnyboy3410 Fucker did commit some aweful warcrimes, no matter how much he did help the nords (I don't believe he taught them to shout, that was Kynes doing). The blades to have a point, now do they explain that point well, no because you would have to go and talk to esburn during a specific part of the main quest.
Delphine is still a shithead that does not change.
@@johnnyboy3410 you remember that time Paul atriedes used the voice on that priest from the old Dune movie, i did something similar when she told me to kill Paarthrunax, shouted her off sky haven temple.
@@johnnyboy3410 naw but they ask you to kill chadonious maxson.
@@johnnyboy3410 I remember how strange that conversation was. After giving me what I wanted, she tried to tell me I needed to kill paarthurnax. I remember asking myself at the time, "What reason have I to do this?"
They are severely underdeveloped. Original plans were for us to learn spy signs and do cool spy stuff. But only a trace of that design remains. They are distinctly unsuited to enforcing order in the commonwealth - unless they took over the institute and could make synths to help them. They need a transformative event for them to work and merging with another faction would be the best ending with them. Also Deacon has the most tantalizing plot with him following you from exiting the vault to the towns.
Deacon and ballistic weave are the only redeemable features of the railroad
All that’s left of the cool spy stuff is dumb code names and simple chalk markings. Really disappointing.
@@ijneb1248 And the Deliverer. Single-digits AP per shot? Count me in.
Wish you could keep deacon somehow as a companion after you decide to kill the railroad.
Dude was awesome. I could see him being a spy in the institute wearing synth or courser uniforms.
@@autonomous_trash Yup... I wish we didn't ever see the Railroad. (or at least, hardly at all). Keep it all super spy-type of play. We don't know who they are so if we fail we can't give up that information. At some point we might meet Deacon and Tinker Tom (and no one else) and both of them should be huge revelations in the game that we ACTUALLY met someone.
But it would have been cool to try to investigate people in settlements across the commonwealth, maybe some do dead drops or escort missions at night that we can spy on and follow...maybe if we poke around their homes we find stashes of clothes, weapons, ammo, meds, etc... maybe we find some tapes or books that contain coded passphrases and that we could, if we investigated enough, actually solve a puzzle to find the HQ.
But nah. let's like... stumble right to their HQ and just be allowed to walk away despite it all being SOOooOOOO secret.
They should have just made a path for an institute run that allows you to give synths more freedom and just scrapped the railroad.
Pretty sure there’s a mod for that lol. Which renders the RR entirely superfluous.
why not go out with a toaster then
Honestly I agree. I feel like they let us down big time by having the Institute be the "evil" option it would've made so much more sense if as a faction you could change and shape its future as the story plays out, especially when Father says you're gonna be the new leader of them
@@georgerockwell149 "Subversion," I think the mod's called. I find the writing for that mod to be pretty bad, as it hinges on every faction being a pushover, and the some of the arguments given in the speech checks are horrendous, like sparing the Railroad in the Institute questline.
No, because then it'd be like, what, 3 people are pro-Synth in the game - the Binets and you? Nobody would treat the idea seriously.
And when the Institute's personnel depend on Synth labor to maintain their facilities, why would they do that?
“There’s another settlement that needs your help, I’ll mark it on your map!”
- Preston Garvey’s last words
The Railroad: ignoring literal slavery in the commonwealth and just west of them in Nuka World to help liberating the fake people from fake bondage.
Cause no one else cares about synths, if they expanded their scope it would be impossible to get anything done especially with their numbers.
Their goal is not to end slavery. It is to hurt the Institute.
Also, Nuka World is weird in that it just doesn't seem to exist until you visit it. You never see any signs of the different raider gangs or anything else at the park in the commonwealth proper until after you go there, and then only if you choose to become overboss.
Synths are literally real people and the only slaves in the Commonwealth but okay
That's why the Brotherhood or minutemen are better.
The Brotherhood at least will always wage war on the super mutants, feral ghouls and the Enclave. And they don't necessarily go after farmers like raiders.
So i would prefer the Brotherhood ending as you deal with Both the institute and railroad.
Or minutemen.
@@mikeym.4724 the bos hate all none humans and are just a raider gang, they don't discriminate between feral and none feral ghouls, also they rob and destroy settlement that don't bend the knee completely. Rivot city is gone they destroyed it for parts to build thst stupid ship.
I dont mind the Railroad as a concept and a sub faction but I don't think it should've been a main one. They themselves are a guerilla/humanitarian group who has a niche goal in mind and isn't thinking about governing the Commonwealth which is why seeing them occupy checkpoints throughout the land is pretty weird and doesn't mesh right
i think it would of made sense if every head of the Railroad was themselves a synth and their actions are part of their reprogramming after having themselves escaped the Institute
That’s pretty much Arcadia in far harbor
far harbor did a better job going through this concept
P much far harbor. Cept deacon would make sense since it would credit his reason of
Bad to synths then sythn waifu killed by others who were like me back then.
Well Glory is a synth, if I remember right…and I think Deacon *might* be one…but I’m fairly positive I read somewhere the Glory is in fact a Synth
Idk why you made an entire video you just convinced us with the title
Yea
The minutemen are the best faction. There is a future with the minutemen. Building endless settlements. That's a positive message.
I agree and see it as possible to end yup like a new NCR. You can also look West to see the future the BOS gives a region as well
I would prefer joining the Gunners over the Railroad tbh
I wish we could of joined the gunners
@@E100-l6y same
The Railroad has some of the most interesting characters in the game (I remember more of their names than the Brotherhood or Institute combined), but despite their good intentions their plans are ultimately hollow, it's like getting a bunch of movie stars together talking about doing awesome things but just sitting in a diner sipping bad coffee.
My analogy makes no goddamn sense.
Makes plenty of sense. What all is there to gain from a bunch of people sitting around and doing nothing but chatting and drinking coffees? Unless it leads to something important later, it can be deemed a waste of time.
It makes perfect sense, interesting and likeable characters put into a shallow and lazily done faction
Thank you! I keep hearing that they're uninteresting when it's more that they don't have a real role to play in the story. They have a linear, and very minor, path that they can't deviate from, all while having the most charismatic people stand around all day! It's really sad that I remember H2-22 before a fucking synth companion-
Again, that is what is so great about them. Their entire plan is small and petty, which means it doesn't get too much in the way of my own plans. Literally every faction makes me do things I don't want to do, but the Railroad does it the least. They don't have to be interesting. They just have to stay out of my way.
Railroad worst faction in fallout. They get massacred first thing as soon as i reach boston
Des: we are the railroad
Nate: yeah yeah yeah thats nice (spams jet , psyco and loads double barrel sawed off and commences with the blasting)
Then i take all their body bits and pile them up infront of the stupid robot and ask why she couldnt predect this before turing her to scrap
Literally never got past the first mission with the one guy and i only do that for the deliverer
Dumbest faction / people in fallout ... and theres raiders who will attact a dude in power armor with a pool que so thats saying a fucking lot
I think it's kind of interesting that the guy who wrote the railroad (Ferret Baudoin) also worked on Obsidian/Black Isle Studios, went on to make several quests for Fallout 4 (Last voyage, Silver Shroud, Human error, some things for Far Harbor, etc.) and I think he's playing a key role in the writing of Starfield. Outside of the railroad he has a good track record but man, he dropped the ball when it came to writing factions.
The problem I think that happened was he was making all these outstanding side quests but they needed help with the main game bad (low personnel, lack of ideas) and he helped them make the story for the RR but he is better with small quests that have a very bold but insignificant story change. so the RR questline was created and was so 2D and with no real ending that goes well that they become redundant as a main faction! That’s why all the characters in the faction seem very fleshed out but very linear
I think it was also they shoehorned RR in at the last moment as a key faction. It's most likely it was a side faction that he frantically had to fit into the main story when they wanted a fourth faction
@@Caragoner Makes sense considering half of their missions are 'Recycled' (literally exactly the same) as another faction (Institute). It made including them as a main faction a lot easier.
They were always likely planned to be included in the game as a faction because the F3 Quest mentioned them however.
I really wouldn't be surprised if business got over on creativity. As in, Bethesda may have said, "nah, we need guns and boom booms... pew pew..."
I truly think the Railroad would have been a really cool secret organization that we don't even see for most of the game. Like a true covert spy type faction. Imagine we don't get an intro of blaring lights and miniguns pointed at us with someone yelling, "WE ARE THE RAILROAD!" ya know?
Instead, maybe someone (Tinker Tom) hacks our Pip-Boy and we start getting coded messages. Maybe we find a dead agent or a dead synth with a note. We hear people mention them like we do in Diamond City, but we never actually see them other than through these messages that lead to quests. But we don't know who we're working with. We as players could investigate people and try to piece things together as we go learning a little more each time. People running secret stashes, or doing dead drops at night, talking in coded messages, escorting synths, etc... we learn these things by playing instead of having our hands held and for the faction to play just like everyone else with really no difference.
To me that would have been a real change of pace both for a faction but as to playing the game in general. Really get the whole paranoia thing going.
Aw, rip to Ferret, he just passed away.
I always enjoy meeting the railroad for the first time, as I pull spray n pay from my inventory, take a hit of psychojet and unload 100 rounds of explosive .45 ammo upon them.
My first meeting with the railroad, was also my last meeting.
❤
I use them for resources purely. They're the ONLY place you can keep getting stealth boys from. The knowledge of making armored clothing items as well makes them incredibly useful to do some missions for.
But yeah, their overall scheme is pretty silly. They're not really serious about anything.
In a world full of raiders and dangerous creatures
I can't believe there's group of people who defend toasters rights more
Agreed. I'm willing to bet there are raider camps with more dead scavengers or traders laying around then the total amount of synths you save by the end of the game.
Why do you have a complete lack of empathy my guy?
Synths are basically human. I don't see them as any different really. So why should I have an issue with a group that seeks to equalise us?
@@henrikfitch4017they literally wipe their personality and memories when “liberating them” 😂😭
@@henrikfitch4017 killed the civilians and children on the prydwen, complete disregard for all other life if it means one synth gets freed etc. that's my reasoning, yes their goal is noble but their actions are not justified
@@Tove5th The Prydwen is a military base for a group conducting genocide on the people the Railroad wants to emancipate. They are entirely justified in blowing it up. It would be like putting child soldiers on a battleship and then complaining that your enemies still attack you. That's on the BoS, not the Railroad.
The Railroad simply wants equality for humans and synths. Humans aren't being persecuted and murdered simply for being human, synths are. Synths NEED more help than humans. Also, the Railroad shows willingness to work with the Minutemen, they very much do care about people, their goal is to bring synths to the same level as people, not to bring down people to synths.
One thing each faction needs.
Railroad: more spy stuff, maybe even a fun gadget or two.
Minutemen: the ability to assign tasks like a general. (Meaning there's a settlement that needs YOUR help PRESTON. Here let me mark it on your map)
Institute: a path to reforming it.
Brotherhood: a giant deathclaw or bloatfly to challenge liberty prime.
I hate how much they try to push the institute as the "evil faction." Your character almost never mentions the fact that your son's the director, or that you yourself have been made director. That alone should change the other factions perception towards the institute. Honestly the best ending of fallout 4 would be you siding with the institute and allying with the minutemen, since you now have advanced technology available and the commonwealth has both a strong militia as well as a robot army supporting it
I would LOVE to assign tasks to Preston. That guy is a pain.
Playing the uno reverse card on Preston would be a baller move. There better be a mod out there that lets you do that. I'd pay money.
big MT legendary bloatfly VS liberty prime
The most moronic aspect is that people ever joined the Railroad. They give absolutely no practical motivation for doing so, and their entire mission prioritizes Synth well-being over human life at large.
They're essentially a school club of activists gone guerilla. Logically, the Institute/BoS would utterly annihilate them with hours. (Three hundred year old cellar isn't a defendable base)
The only reason they wouldn’t wipe out the railroad would be the railroad is so ineffective that they can’t be bothered to spend resources to deal with them. Father sends you after the institute as a test to further prove your loyalty, and Maxon has it as a sideshow to do while they fix up liberty prime
@@teamfossil6312 They are legitimately an afterthought, lol. Like clearing out some ferals from one of the subways.
That's not really fair - the Railroad is the only group the Sole Survivor _should_ work with at the start. You need to get into the Institute. Well, the Brotherhood has other objectives, and the local farmhands straight up can't. But here's this organization that literally does nothing but focus on the Institute - like you. It's actually a no brainer to work with them over everyone else at least until you meet Father.
The Railroad is honestly the most reasonable faction to start with, specifically _because_ they don't really care about the commonwealth. _You_ don't care about the commonwealth either - you care about getting your son out of the institute. Everything else makes you go "why are you doing these side gigs when you have to get to your son?"
@@xbigbooshx4643 I will agree, it is reasonable for the Sole Survivor to work with the Railroad. But that's only due to the fact you have an ulterior motive (That motive being urgent entry into the Institute). No other members of the Railroad display the same level of personal motive. At an individual level, the priority is preserving Synth 'life' over human life, which remains unreasonable. They are even willing to die for their cause, making it seem even more insane. While so many people struggle to survive in the face of radioactive hardship, the Railroad seems to ignore it all to essentially accomplish moral redemption, which isn't a practical motivation.
The Railroad has no vision for a society nor the means to build that society. They have no grasp of governance, objective reasoning skills, or a legitimate chance to survive & thrive.
Wouldnt the practical reason be... roleplaying/personal choices? Like how most RPGs will give you a lesser reward for doing the good choice over the evil one.
I really find the Railroad ridiculous, it's sad knowing Deacon, one of the best companion imo, is in this faction.
Deacon is a synth…
@@randomguyontheinternet8345 existence precedes essence
@@randomguyontheinternet8345Nah, i just killed him earlier and he didn't drop a synth component
I feel like the railroad would have been written as splinter group of the minutemen. They could have broken off after the massacre of the Commonwealth provisional government. With main stream minuteman not trusting synths and the railroad breaking off due to their belief that synths once free from institute control could be trusted. You could even include a quest in both the railroad and minutemen quest lines that involves healing this riff and bring the railroad in as secret group with in the minutemen that focuses on helping synths. then the railroad post institute works as recon and infiltration group within the minutemen helping them expand to settlements out side of the Commonwealth and helping identify key leaders of larger raider groups.
The railroad, synths and institute being an analogy for folks from the south smuggling slaves to freedom in the north could have been great but Bethesda has this frustrating tendency to just…. Not engage with or construct their themes in interesting ways.
The railroad feels almost like it has a 5th grade level of depth to it. There’s just… nothing there that gets the brain going or causes you to think about real United States history
TBH the Railroad shouldn’t have been a major faction, they should have been a part of one of the other factions and the institute should have been reworked or perhaps not even done in the first place… idk man. Fallout 4’s whole story is just so shallow, dull and dry. Bethesda has their widely accessible, non-challenging narrative formula and they don’t wanna change it.
so what is the benefit of the railroad wiping the Synths memories? I feel like it causes way more problems than it solves since it has resulted in numerous raiders, devastated relationships when the truth comes out and a lot of emotinal trauma on the synth themselves when they find out (look at Danse for example).
Apparently the memories are traumatising or something, at least going by that one synth you escort, and it supposedly makes it harder for the Institute to find them if they don’t remember being synths. I don’t think either of these are good reasons to practically kill someone but there are reasons given.
Yea it’s hypocritical of the railroad to even wipe memories but the synths choose to have their memories wiped, they are not forced into it
Not to mention that when you wipe someone’s memories you’re essentially killing them by erasing what makes them…them!
At the end you also forgot about ballistic weave. That allowed you to make the suit you got doing one of the dead drops strong enough to run around without armor with the deliverer
Yeah, Ballistic Weave is the only reason to do anything Railroad related. But what I like best about it, it can be acquired without effecting your rep with the Brotherhood or Institute if you wish to do those as a playthrough instead.
Or you can just get a mod that gives you it
@@pawhunter340 You can yes. But looking at from the vanilla gameplay aspect, you have to take the Courser Chip to the Railroad anyhow during the main quest line. So, may as well do stuff up to that point for Ballistic Weave, then dump them.
Idk why in the base game you couldn't just tell des that your in line to become the next director so there could be no need to nuke the institute and that you could change the policys of the institute
I mean Des will probably tell you that the Institute is rotten in every angle besides the synths and that it’s moronic to believe that unless with a strong show of force and a take over of the place, the Others will decide to happily let you radically change anything.
However that’s still a problem on the game for not having us have a moment where she explains why it won’t make a difference.
Cant forget about the Ballistic Weave mod also, that's a great thing to get and you don't even have to side with them the entire time to get it.
Don't forget that blowing up the Pridwyn just instantly riles up the bee hive
I just can't get over the fact that you destroy the institute after taking out everyone out inside it, pretty much killing off any future for synth's and the railroad as a whole. It should have ended with the institute becoming there new base of operation's imo.
It makes way more sense could also lead to more quests about consolidating your factions win
I don’t understand why you have to destroy the Institute in 3 endings at all. I feel like that should’ve been the bad way to resolve the final quest. New Vegas gives you the option as Yes Man to destroy the dam, but it’s painted as a completely moronic option (as it should be).
Why would they do that? As long as synths stop being made, the Railroad's end-goal is actually achievable. If Synths are just being produced forever, their intended goal can never be met.
The Railroad cares only about freeing synths. They don't want to make more.
@@TheMasterUnity the option should be just to turn off the sythn production plant and other projects. Institute still had good tech and experiments going on that would of been good for the wasteland.
In defense of the railroad if you look at the dialogue(I forgot which one) you'll know that most railroad members just hate the institute. Its mostly higher ups like Desdemona and Deacon who are 100% believers
Doesn't that kind of shoot the railroad in the foot, as soon as any real divide starts to happen such as the argument if 1st and second gen synths should be freed they'll start to turn on each other, "a house divided cannot stand" - Jesus Christ/ Abraham Lincoln
I'm just here for the ballistic weave....
And Deliverer
Railroad are also anti-slavery which was showed in Fallout 3. I don’t know why people forget this.They allied with the Tenple of The Union its almost as if you never played Fallout 3
Remember synths are not people, They are held up by code and can easily snap, And hell if the Railroad means "liberation" by RECODING the synths they "freed" to have new memories then well that's abit hypocritical
From your second main point that the railroad simply creates a power vacuum, you are still free to use the minutemen to bring order to the commonwealth.
Ye, the MM and RR are the only factions that are the morally sound for the most part
I dont think this guy understands what a power vacuum is. The commonwealth was dealing with two problems the horrors of the wasteland and the institute, neither the institute nor the bos were governing. The bos didnt even show up till after the second act and the institute saw the commonwealth as expendable
@@lolpo423 the minutemen werent governing either, they tried to get a federation of settlements but that wouldnt be governed by the minutemen themselves, they were just the muscle same as the bos
@@zikkimeister215 exactly, so the institute being taken down without bos takingg control of the commonwealth is a very viable option. Especially seeing how bos treats anything non human
This feels like how a followers of the apocalypse playthrough would go.
Kind of a bad comparison. The Followers are group that are basically the opposite of the BOS.
They gather knowledge and share it to teach people or help people in general.
They would probably assist you in fighting the Institute if they somehow were in FO4.
They help you take down the Master in FO1 after all
Nah, the followers are a rather enlightened group of altruistic people, focusing on healing, keeping and sharing knowledge and essentially increasing the quality of life for as many wastelanders as possible.
The railroad specifically only wants to save synths. And are somehow vying for control of the commonwealth.
Followers are like salvation army dude: railroad are like Peta but worse
Naw the followers are actually useful and not stupid
My favorite mission was showing up to the railroad with decked out power armor, gatling gun, and a fatman. No survivors
you joined the railroad so you could save synths, i joined the railroad so i could blow up the brotherhood and the institute, we are not the same
you get the same ending with the minutemen, and their the better faction
@@b.u.m_official in my last playthrough i went for the minutemen ending keeping both the bos and railroad alive, best ending tbh
@@splatternaenaeI agree, even as annoying as Garvey is. I don’t like the bos cause they’re racist asf. and the railroad… the railroad is the railroad lmao
Personally, I really enjoy the Railroad quest line. Infiltrating the Prydwen and destroying the brotherhood might be my favorite of the main story quests.
Deliverer and the armor mesh are the only reasons I go to the railroad
I think the minutemen could’ve been better as well, it should have had a base at Quincy that we could’ve taken back from the Gunners. There could’ve been some sort of storyline with a Commonwealth Congress and the Institute.
The Railroad couldn't be a major faction IMO. They don't have the military, political, geographical or ideological strength be be considered one.
They're basically a guerilla group who relies on miniscule recruitment to replenish their dwindling numbers.
They have no pull or leverage in the Commonwealth region, or really anywhere else, so they can't call on allies or strongarm people into helping them out.
While factions like the BoS are surrounded by water and could funnel attackers through a choke point, or the Institute being near impossible to enter without teleportation, the Railroad puts all their best operatives in a single, confined space underground, in which they could easily be flushed out or pincered by a decently armed and coordinated attacking force (which actually happens in half the endings).
Finally, their ideology presents no long-term solution to rebuilding the Commonwealth. Not only do most people on the surface hate synths, but even if the Railroad somehow beats the Institute, what then? They've destroyed their greatest enemy, and freed what synths remained of it. What now? Nothing, because their entire identity revolved around a very specific niche and goal.
If the Railroad were a minor faction, such as the Boomers from NV or the Atom Cats in 4, it would make far more sense than being a force that could drastically change the setting and plot.
Plus you'd think they'd have a civil war due to even their own members having different ideas on how far they should go to liberate Synths, some might even use their previous attack as an example.
The biggest issue I had with the railroad is that they have only one real goal in mind: Liberate the Synths from the Institute. This goal, when achieved makes the Railroad no longer have any other purpose in the Commonwealth. They only serve as a direct antithesis towards the Institute and nothing more. Whereas factions such as the Minute Men who strive to give protection to all people of the common wealth in a minutes notice. They always have a purpose, always have a reason to exist. The brotherhood are a group of people who believe in the conservation of advanced technology, wherever there is any advance technology in the world, the Brotherhood will have a purpose to exist. And finally the Institute, they exist as basically a lesser version of the Enclave, and that’s about it, but they have goals in mind towards reshaping the world above in their own image and the issues they have with rivaling factions like the Railroad above in the Common Wealth only ultimately serves as a minor distraction from their ultimate goal of reshaping humanity for what they deem to be better. All of the other factions in the game, the main ones that is, all serve a purpose that doesn’t go away once their goal is achieved, it’s like a never ending battle. But the Railroad doesn’t have that, they’re basically the Gunners except you have the option of joining them for an ending in the game.
Though I will say this, in my first playthrough I ultimately sided with the Railroad because unlike the Minute Men or Brotherhood or Institute, they weren’t a straight up heroic faction or a designated evil faction, and they also weren’t ideologically confused (like the Brotherhood when it comes to synths). Yes they only served one purpose ultimately, but I didn’t care, I liked them because they weren’t perfect, nor were they evil either. They just had one goal in mind and I was able to help them achieve it.
BOS believe that humanity has to make smart choices when advancing. Curtailing teck to dangerous to exist. Their goal is intrinsically tied to humanity. The BOS is not confused about synths. They view them as bio machines and infiltrators. The Raiload is the one faction that is confused. They view only the body as save worthy, as they will wipe the mind.
Gunners have a better goal... Caps. They exist for themselves. They are raiders and will persist till they get wiped out or can't recruit.
The minute men are literally the wildcard faction the point of both is a player controlled wasteland
5:10 i didn't get the memo to wear a uniform so i rolled in with power armour and massacred the ship, even got final judgement
I don't even know why they're considered one of the main four factions to be honest, At best they're should be a side faction you can quest for but Not one of the dominate four though.
The gunners could be a Nice faction but I guess Bethesda thought it was enough with one militarized faction with the BoS
@@elektra8535 The Gunners would have made a better choice, But I think an all new Faction all together would have been better. Or even a brotherhood civil war.
@@elektra8535 they should have leaned even more heavily into the Arthurian pseudo-medieval style for the BoS and made the Gunners cold war era soldier of fortune types.
@@RomanHistoryFan476AD that would of made alot more sense because sus things have definitely happened to the brotherhood since three like it would of been cool if danse wasn't a synth but accused as he discovered something he shouldn't have
@@azeria1 Yeah but this is Fallout 4 where good ideas die, and more exciting stories are told as backstory and not allowed to be experienced.
I do like me some ballistic weave though.
I hate the Railroad so much, you feel like they take priority in goddamn ChatGPT 2.0 than helping their fellow humans in scaping slavery. I despise them, even one of my favorite BoS missions is destroying the Railroad.
I kinda think they did not develop the Minuteman enough. Instead of radiance quest about assisting settlements, you can have a number of quest that can improve their infrastructure and combat abilities (training and equipment), along with decisions in quest to decide their morality (whether or not the execute raiders or gunners after they tried to surrender) which will also determine the end of the minuteman quest line.
I feel if they fought for everyone's freedom I'd understand them more. Ghouls, good mutants, slaves, settlers and Synths. Just expand the scope of them
Expanding the scope of a group of that size is inefficient, they wouldnt get anything done. Headcannon is theyd apply the same values to ghouls, friendly supermutants
I have to disagree. While poor writing exists as a general problem for all the factions (and Fallout 4 in general, at least for a fallout game) the Institute is by far the worst written, because there is no good reason given to make the synths in the first place. Making better robots that have as little to no sentience as most other robots in fallout would serve their purposes far better than creating a thinking, feeling slave race for no other discernable reason than to make them the clearest villainous faction. At least the Railroad, Minutemen and Brotherhood have clear, sensible goals but they just seem to do evil science for the sake of evil science without the justification of being mentat-maddened brains in jars that the Think Tank had.
Absolutely agree.
The 4 main factions of Fallout 4 represent the 4 main playstyles. The Brotherhood represents brute force (mostly power armor builds, leaning on its strength to wield heavy weapons), the Institute represents technological superiority (using crafting perks to have the best gear and often a tricked out robot companion), the Minutemen represents strength through allies (mainly charisma focused builds), and the Railroad represents the stealth playstyle.
pretty much.
Unfortunately, due to Bethesda completely neutering the RPG elements, the only viable playstyle is tech superiority.
The stupidest part about the railroad is the fact that there are actual slaves in the world of Fallout. Nuka World is full of them, and surely every bandit camp has some as well. So why do they focus on freeing robots from slavery when so many actual people are enslaved? The railroad should have been just about freeing all slaves, and then the Sole Survivor could “convince” them to help by getting them to see the synths as slaves too. Synths shouldn’t have been their main focus.
The Railroad is great-as long as you don’t try to make them something they’re not. They’re a special interest group for an oppressed population. The problem is when you try to make an organization that isn’t interested in transparency (with good reasons, but they wouldn’t be an accountable government) and that isn’t specifically looking out for everyone’s interests (which is perfectly OK *as a special interest group*) represent all of the people of the Commonwealth. That’s why it’s M/r for me. Minutemen lead, The Railroad is supplementary
In other news, water is wet.
The best overall faction option is to take the Minutemen route but also being on friendly terms with the Railroad. The Minutemen are the truly good guys in Fallout 4, willing to even die to protect their fellow Commonwealth inhabitants, and they do not have a stance against any friendly beings of any kind. They don't mind synths if they know they're friendly, don't even mind Strong, or friendly ghouls joining their ranks or settlements. The Minutemen are also the most powerful at projecting force in order to stabilize the area and keep the order safely. They don't mind the Railroad doing their thing to free and protect synths, and are happy to work with them. A fine pairing overall.
Desdemonas reaction to the death of their inside guy is horrible.
I've long had the opinion that the Railroad and the Minutemen should have had shared a questline. The Minutemen (assuming the player helps them rebuild) have the manpower that the Railroad lacks, while the Railroad's intelligence network wounld finally allow the Minutemen to go on the offensive against the institute. Not to mention the symbolism of the Commonwealth, human and synth alike, uniting against the Institute.
This is kind of what happens in the Minuteman + Railroad alliance ending, but that's only an option if you fail the Railroad's main quest by getting exiled from the Institute, and is basically an afterthought. Minuteman + Railroad should have been the main ending for those factions.
The fact they blew up the Institute instead of taking it over always bothered me. "Only place in the common wealth we know of where synths are made? Let's blow it up."
When did the Railroad ever advocate for creating new synths? Hint: they didn’t. They only want to save existing synths and ensure their just treatment.
@@bibbyboxx2219 Never said they did. Just seems weird they're all about Synth rights but not reproduction. Putting that aside the accumulated resources and knowledge is an epic waist.
The Institute is arguably worse by a lot.
-doesn't want to improve the common wealth
-doesn't want direct control
-believes synths are the next evolution of mankind
-wants to replace all humans with synths
-after seeing the surface, Father explains that humans should never return to the surface and that the institute should dig themselves deeper into the earth
-your player can't make any hypothetical changes because everyone immediately threw a tantrum simply because you were Father's successor
They have no plan, they don't want to better anything. They want to conduct completely worthless research that isn't good to anyone, nor themselves, and stay underground forever. The one and only thing that the Railroad has going for them is the fact that they want to free synths so they can attempt to live normal lives. Whether it's a worthy cause or not is a different discussion, but they have an actual, clear goal.
I think I would have been better if the railroad was a subfaction like the bos in New vegas, maybe for the minutemen
If anyone's interested a combination of "Subversion" and "The Danse Dilema" mods gives a lot more options to all factions, and particularly make The Railroad more interesting.
While I absolutely love Deacon and always do the initial Railroad quests, I must admit you're right about the Railroad's lack of future after the destruction of the Institute. Good video!
The commonwealth is not dangerous because of the creatures, but because of the people that live in his own ideological bubble
In Fallout New Vegas you basically created alliances between or destroyed the secondary factions to help the main two (NCR and Caesar's Legion). They should have made the Brotherhood and Institute the main two factions and had multiple secondary ones you have to make alliances with (or destroy) to help your main one. Then they could have a wildcard "Mega Happy" and extremely hard to pull of ending where you broker peace between the two.
Minuteman and BOS work closely together. That's the closest thing. BOS recruits smaller factions, the settlements. SO do the Minutemen. BOS and Raiload don't see eye to eye. BOS believes the Synths are dangerous and robotic. Raiload believe they are people but they value the body, not the inside. Institute and BOS are at odds. One is unchecked science. One is science checked by humanity
I remember when I first played through Fallout 4 I chose the faction I thought would ensure that most people could live a secure life, so I chose the Brotherhood(I didn't know the Minutemen were an option at the time and TBH if I'd known I would have picked them) but the Railroad to me represented dreamers, they weren't worth joining since I asked "Why can't they have the goal to free all oppressed peoples?" while deciding which faction to finish the playthrough with I got the DLCs and my indifference to the Railroad morphed into anger when I got to Nukaworld and saw what the raiders had done(No play through of Fallout 4 have I ever not wiped out the Raiders at Nukaworld) but when I was done I was left asking "Why couldn't I get Preston to help me?" and then I asked "Why don't the Railroad care?!". I realised the Railroad only cares about Syths and nothing else, in some ways they're worse than the Institute, it's mindless Idealism that once it's served it's purpose will just continue the abuse. Libertalia was another reason to hate the Railroad, they allowed that Syth to act in a way where goodness knows how many innocent people died because of it....the Railroad only cared about their ideals in an idealised way and didn't take responsibility when those ideals did harm.
The brotherhood is one of the most fun to play
The Railroad are the 14 yo girls that would say "zombies are people too" in a zombie apocalypse
@palaherk2955and then you decided to ironically sound like a 14 year old girl by saying “this”
Doing the Institute quests while trying to undermine the institute was fun. Like the quest to Libertalia has you capturing a Synth, and I tried to prevent the capture while not blowing my cover.
You have to compromise the ideals of the railroad for the greater good of the cause, which is great. Overall, great way to do the questline.
Synths are machines and don't deserve rights
My biggest gripe with the railroad is that you can't combine them with the Minute Men. Both are the factions fighting for the "little guys". Both are the most morally ideal. And honestly Both have similar goals and ideals of freedom. It feels like the two factions would've worked so well together and it saddens me that it's not an option
The closest we can is with Burning Cover, where the Minutemen are a sort of shadow army of the Railroad.
Also both are based of of groups that formed during wars in American
Honestly if there was an opportunity for the minutemen and the railroad to come together in unity that would be a far better payoff storyline wise
Damn right, the RR is the only faction that forcefeeds you 2 radiant quests at a time, with you unable to refuse.
Sound like the Minuteman lol
They piss me off cause a few of their guards have only 1 voice line thats a hostile sounding “Don’t try nothing!”. The guy said it to me 5 times while I was trying to talk to the main lady so I pulled out a Fat Man and blew them to smithereens
Get Deliverer, get Ballistic Weave, and maybe Deacon. Then get out.
People who want to do the right thing, but only end up making things worse in the process due to their reckless pursuit and worse yet, do not see or understand the kind of damage they are causing to the world around them.
Fallout 4 has some of the worst factions of any video game I've ever seen. You have three flavors of techno-fetishist, two Enclave-Lite, and one faction that's explicitly "the Good Guys" with no further nuance. BoS is Enclave Zero while Institute is Diet Enclave, Railroad are somehow more shallow than Preston, and that's about it. Honestly, if Bethesda wanted to make being a Raider Overboss have any actual oomph, they should've included it as an update to the the main story in the DLC. They clearly can modify the main story in some ways with DLC, like they did with Broken Steel.
BOS is nothing like the Enclave. They don't like Synths. The same as your basic settler and the Minutemen. They liberally destroy the Institute, telling you that teck like that is not worth human life. They don't kill non-ferals and do better than Lyon's boys. They don't even take potshots. They recruit from the basic settler. SM are violent cretins and they get stopped. They are not techno-fetishists. The guys refuse teck to preserve life. The ones that are... the Institute body and the Raiload.
I took them out for having me do that shit “puzzle”
Imagine that the railroad was om a actual train
And you main mission is to make that train active again and you see the gang actually actively moving around the map
Synths don't have feelings their machines what don't they get?out of all the things to do in a nuclear wasteland get food water and basic survival they pick to risk their lives for machines how are they still alive as a faction?
The Railroad ending is the best at creating a Commonwealth perfect for the Nukaworld raiders to move in and be the strongest power
They were a Raider psyop all along.
Not if you buildup the minute men
Pure Anti-railroad Propaganda
I mainly didn't like them cause Desdemona was annoying but this is a better reason to dislike them
They’re a bit confused, but got the spirit.
Not to mention that 90% of their “secret” hideouts are already raided and destroyed by the time you arrive on the scene. Plus putting “Railroad” as your password is just as dumb as putting password.
My problem with the railroad is that i was never totally convinced that synths are sentient in the first place. They appear to be but i thought that writing was ambiguous enough that we never had a clear answer. I think the writers of the story didn't know enough about AI to give us a clear yes or no answer.
I found it a bit too obvious they were sentient, roomba’s typically don’t try to escape from their owners so clearly synths have individual desires such as freedom. And that makes the Institute look incredibly stupid for not either realising mere machines don’t do such things or fixing whatever bug is making their cleaners act in such a way before doing their full rollout.
I think that ambiguity was intentional, tbh.