Which Fallout 4 Faction is Best for the Commonwealth?

the Commonwealth of Massachusetts once the Cradle of Liberty and the birthplace of the American war of independence now it stands as a Barren waste a testament to a war long since forgotten the people who call the Commonwealth home in 2287 live a life of hardship and pain but doggedly Forge ahead and attempt to scrape together a meaningful existence in the wastes and ruins of the Greater Boston area but even 210 years after the end of the Great War people still can't seem to decide on a path forward and there are no shortage of factions looking to leave their mark on the Wasteland with fourish possible endings each one aligned with a different faction it makes sense that each would have a different short-term and long-term set of consequences for the general population of the Commonwealth but which one offers the best hope to finally begin rebuilding and making the Commonwealth a better place well that's exactly what we hope to answer today it's about to get heavy so pull up a stool and grab a nuka-cola dark because I'm gray you're watching great gaming and today we're going to answer the question of which Fallout 4 faction is the best for the Commonwealth oh and there are going to be some spoilers here just in case you thought you would watch an end game assessment of the storyline and somehow not experience that [Music] it Bears mentioning that the Brotherhood of Steel Institute Railroad and Minutemen are not the only groups that are able to leave a lasting mark on the Commonwealth there are a number of smaller minor factions that can be influenced by the sole survivor either through cooperation and diplomacy or through ruthless combat and armed resistance these are all factions that could find a home in a post-game Commonwealth where they could either help restoration or hinder as is their prerogative so before we discuss the four major factions as I'm sure all of you watching were hoping for we first wanted to explore whether these minor factions could ever be convinced to assist the major factions and their long-term designs on the Commonwealth the atom cats are a small community that lives in a fortified red rocket in the South Boston area they aren't immediately hostile to Outsiders and even have mutually beneficial trade agreements with nearby communities like the Warwick Family Farm trading their expert Mechanical Services for food and other necessities which are not within the cat's skill set to produce the atom cats major claim to fame is their fascination with and heavy use of t-60 power armor with several of their members possessing a full suit of t-60a variant while this older variant offers less protection than the t-60bnd worn by Brotherhood of Steel Knights and paladins respectively it does offer superior protection to the t-45 and mix and match suits worn by Gunners and the improvised suits worn by high-ranking Raiders while the Brotherhood of Steel would most certainly take issue with the atom cat's use of power armor the rest of the factions wouldn't be so quick to take violent action against the cats The Institute would likely ignore them outright unless they needed to induct individuals with a strong Mechanical Aptitude but that occurrence seems unlikely the railroad in the Minutemen however ever would have no reason not to pursue an alliance with the atom cats as the cats could serve a vital role as bodyguards or as a special operations team due to their heavy armor so long as the atom cats were made an offer that provides sufficient benefit to their members like access to trade networks food and water or Salvage rights for areas that they operate in the atom cats could actually serve a positive stabilizing role the cats would not be likely to meddle in politics either as their current leader has very little Ambitions towards expansion or establishing a fiefdom though Future Leaders could be more ambitious and could cause problems later down the road Raiders in the Fallout Universe tend to be small groups of a couple dozen or less these tribalistic groups all have unique identities either through espoused beliefs initiation ceremonies or outward appearance like taking blood Oaths or wearing hockey gear however almost all Raiders are unified by Common behaviors that set themselves apart from other post-war tribal societies they are immediately hostile to Outsiders and rape and pillage their way through the Wasteland to get the necessary supplies to survive or satisfy their baser instincts many Raiders also suffer from chem addiction either by choice to escape the horrors of the Wasteland in Despicable acts they are expected to commit or through ruthless calculations by their gang's leadership to intentionally keep them submissive to Authority and dependent on the group for their next fix however the Raider gangs that call Nuka World home are something very different much like the families that run the casinos on the New Vegas strip these Raider gangs are slightly more civilized than your average Raider now don't get me wrong there's still bloodthirsty monsters that will commit unspeakable acts of violence and cruelty if they're presented an opportunity but their leaders are often able to set aside old hatreds and their personal desires if they can expect appropriate compensation in the long term while the disciples in pack are far too violent to be effectively controlled and would take great offense at being asked to work alongside wastelanders the operators are much more calculating and are motivated more by money than violence for its own sake now it must just be a bug because I honestly cannot find information on this anywhere but on my first playthrough of Nuka world I actually managed to enrage the pack and disciples so it apparently is possible to finish a playthrough with only the operators left standing but could The Operators be convinced to assist in the rebuilding of the Commonwealth well probably not even though they look down on other Raider groups and even mercenary groups like The Gunners as amateurs and simpletons they are first and foremost Raiders it wouldn't take long of being hired out as a professional military force for them to get bored with their assignments and begin antagonizing the locals an operator-friendly ending would also involve them kicking several Commonwealth settlers out of their their homes and they would not be happy if they were asked to give those settlements back or having to work for the benefit of wastelanders that they had once subjugated while they are a well-armed well-organized and fairly disciplined fighting force it's not likely that they would ever be convinced to help the Commonwealth this means the only viable ending as far as Nuka world is concerned is to complete the Open Season Quest by killing all of the Nuka world leaders and clearing the playing field hoping the resulting power vacuum doesn't allow the rise of another kaizar super mutants are a bit of an enigma in Fallout 4. we know the Institute once experimented on fev and likely released many of these super mutants into the Commonwealth so they are a good scapegoat to blame for the proliferation of super mutants the fact that the fev lab was shut down suggests they have no interest in continuing this experiment whatever the goals actually were but even though the Institute is no longer releasing them the number of mutants in the Commonwealth does not appear to be going down the sheer numbers and distribution suggest that it is highly unlikely that the Institute is the only source of super mutants and many are likely coming from other sources like vault 87 in the capital Wasteland or other fev labs on the Eastern Seaboard that we don't yet know about while the vast majority of bethesda-era super mutants are dumb brutes supposedly due to pre-existent mutations before they were exposed to fev there are a small number of super mutants who retain a decent level of intelligence after exposure notable examples are Uncle Leo and fox in Fallout 3 and Eriksen in Far Harbor though he's dumb as a pack of potatoes strong in Fallout 4 was also convinced to help humans believing them to be in possession of some tangible item that allows humans to dominate the Wasteland even though they are smaller and weaker than mutants like himself this might cause some to speculate that super mutants could eventually form a splinter faction friendly to humans but this is extremely unlikely for several reasons mutants who retain or even regain higher thought processes are often ostracized or killed by their brothers who see intelligence as a sign of weakness and even individuals like strong who aren't completely hostile towards All Humans would be unlikely to follow such individuals as he would see their intelligence as a sign they were unworthy to lead as cool as it would be to see a super mutant faction coexisting with humans peacefully or even cooperatively this is just not likely to occur in the Commonwealth [Music] the denizens of far Harbor have had no shortage of hardships to overcome the wildlife in Far Harbor is perhaps the most dangerous of anywhere on the east coast and the radioactive fog forces settlers to contend with nature which is far more foreboding than just about any other habitable region yet seen in the Fallout Universe this makes for a hearty population who enjoy challenges and work tirelessly to prove they can conquer nature but ultimately their Ambitions are on retaking the island of far harbor not in expanding to other areas they tend to look down on mainlanders as people who are too soft to survive the same way they do and wouldn't be thrilled with the idea of settling for a mediocre Lifestyle by taking up residence in the Commonwealth even just temporarily furthermore the island can only be reached by boat or by vertibird with only three known working boats in Fallout 4 and two of them belonging to the nakano family in the Commonwealth the logistical difficulties of establishing a meaningful relationship between the mainland and the island are just too great the Gunners offer the most intriguing what-if scenario when it comes to how they could affect the Commonwealth in a post-game world first of all Gunners are mercenaries not Raiders mercenary groups in our own world tend to Pride themselves on professionalism as bad behavior in and out of combat could lead to claims of breach of contract which leads to no payday Gunners try and differentiate themselves from Raiders as much as possible and take special care with the behaviors of their own members who have a history of joining Raider gangs just like security contractors in our own world they try and outfit their members sufficiently for military operations and many of your mid to high ranking Gunners tend to be similarly equipped to even Brotherhood of Steel units they issue a semi-standardized uniform to their members and while much of the clothing items appears to be the same fare that could be eluded from pre-war skeletons or purchased from clothing vendors they are all dyed foliage green to denote Gunner membership and serve as rudimentary camouflage they don't make use of dog tags to identify personnel and important health information like blood type likely due to a lack of fabrication equipment so they instead tattoo blood type on their foreheads not a perfect solution as head injuries or serious Burns could make these tattoos useless however this does suggest a high level of understanding of combat first aid procedures and applications as well as a genuine concern for the lives of their members something that only the Brotherhood of Steel seems to Rifle they maintain a fighting force of military robot models power armor and even manage to capture a working vertibird and learns to fly it meaning that they are able to attract talent in a variety of disciplines not just infantry or security roles they are also Adept at using mobile defensive structures left over from pre-war military checkpoints this suggests that they would be a great option for a variety of security roles including Transportation supply distribution bodyguard Services General Security details Search and Destroy and roadside security checkpoints however Gunners are far less organized than they first appear I know it's an in-game mechanic to scale the difficulty with the player's level but by late game it becomes very apparent that the Gunner's rank system is symbolic rather than practical the sheer number of Gunner brigadier's Colonels Commander's captains lieutenants and sergeants at higher levels with virtually no conscripts or unranked Gunners to command is rather baffling furthermore throughout the game non-leveled Gunner areas have only unranked and conscripted Gunners with virtually no ranking officers to offer Direction This brings Gunner organizational structure into serious doubt add in the fact that Gunner's headquarters are commanded by a captain West while there are definitely higher ranking officers like a colonel Cypress it's difficult to figure out how leadership is actually structured within the Gunners ambiguity of leadership roles and responsibilities is a problem that would make proper coordination and communication with other factions virtually impossible additionally they have made enemies in just about every corner of the Commonwealth the Brotherhood of Steel would never permit another faction that uses energy weapons aircraft power armor and robots in combat especially one that is financially motivated rather than Guided by any set of moral principles The Institute has had many dealings with the Gunners mostly antagonistic and and would not be likely to utilize their services for anything other than a complete destabilization of the Commonwealth the Gunners Siege of Quincy in which countless civilians were killed and Colonel hollis's unit of the Minutemen were virtually wiped out is well known and would be a serious barrier to the Minutemen interacting with them furthermore Gunner interference with railroad operations makes it unlikely that the railroad would seek an alliance either it is for these reasons that the Gunners have very little chance of being a useful Ally to any of the major factions that you were able to choose with all these facts taken into consideration the only minor faction that offers any level of viability and restoring the Commonwealth is the atom cats and that would likely require a lot of work to develop that relationship as the cats don't see themselves as a military force and are rather just interested in the Aesthetics of power armor itself there are many more minor factions in Fallout 4 but these are the ones that stand out the most now that we've got all the minor factions out of the way let's take a look at the main factions of Fallout 4 beginning with their positive aspects the Commonwealth Minutemen are a reimagining of the colonial militias of old these are people who are willing to take up arms to defend their homes and those of their neighbors the Minutemen were founded on a principle of mutual cooperation and Community defense the Minutemen saw many initial successes early in their history including the successful defense of diamond City during a major super mutant invasion which led to widespread prominence a series of major setbacks led to a near-total collapse of the Minutemen however their ideals are easily resurrected and there are no shortage of people willing to flock to their Banner once again the Minutemen have one goal and that is Public Safety and individual liberty through strength in numbers the Brotherhood of Steel is once again back in Fallout 4 and once more in step with their core mission and vision statements they are determined to safeguard dangerous Technologies from those who may abuse it they have seen great technological Improvement since we last saw them in Fallout 3 with the older t45d power armor of the capital Wasteland traded out for the far superior t-60b and D variants the Brotherhood of Steel has captured a large number of vertibirds after their victories over the enclave and the pridwin a floating aircraft carrier serves as a safe mobile command center and Airfield for their operations in the Commonwealth unlike the Brotherhood of Steel in Fallout 3 every BOS member was hand selected by Elder Arthur Maxson for this operation and are staunchly loyal and completely dedicated to their mission almost to the man because they don't have the benefit of a central headquarters and must remain mobile the BOS chose rather than outfitting everyone with a suit of either t-45 or t60 power armor that a single standardized suit would have to be selected this means not everyone in the BOS expeditionary team gets a suit of power armor but Supply chains only require parts for a single model suggesting a strong understanding of logistics and equipment maintenance during prolonged combat campaigns Arthur Maxson wasted no time identifying The Institute as a threat to the world above ground and quickly organized the expedition to prevent scientists from dabbling with forces they don't understand and once again creating a new technology fueled apocalypse the speed in which the BOS was organized suggests that the BOS is an agile organization capable of rapidly adapting to the needs of whatever situation they find themselves in the Institute is an isolated Community descended from students and faculty at the Commonwealth Institute of Technology who survived the Great War they seek like all academics to further understanding and knowledge within their disciplines just like an institution of Higher Learning The Institute is broken down into various divisions each governing separate but related disciplines they rarely interact with the outside world except when they encounter issues which prevent them from acting completely self-sufficient they utilize advanced technology the likes of which has never been seen before the most impressive of which is the synth and advanced robotics program which initially started out with Android type robots in the form of gen 1 since and evolved to the current gen 3 synth which for all intents and purposes is a laboratory-produced human being they truly believe that they are the future of humanity and in the safety of their massive under ground complex can build a new Society free of War disease and suffering many of the people in The Institute are kind and accepting of one another and while their technology is impressive they devote very few resources to weapons research and development instead focusing their scientific Pursuits on more productive and peaceful subjects this organization is similar to the Underground Railroad and pre-civil War America devoted to helping Escape slaves reach the safety of Canada the railroad views since as fully sentient beings and the institute's use of synths as soldiers General laborers and even domestic servants as nothing short of slavery the railroad is devoted to aiding since who wish to escape the Institute find a new life in the Commonwealth and Beyond this organization has been operational for some time and even has agents as far away as the capital Wasteland in Rivet City the railroad is a clandestine organization who has learned hard lessons about the technological superiority of The Institute and just how far they are willing to go to recover Escape since as a result they are cautious calculating and very deliberate in any action they take they operate from the Shadows using a system of dead drops to disseminate orders War chalking to indicate the location of caches or dangerous areas and code names to protect the identities of agents and their families morally speaking the railroads seem to have the purest of intentions and most firmly espouse belief structures while human slaves are also a concern the railroad's leader Desdemona admits that there are other groups willing to help them while since only have the railroad the railroad is not Guided by malice or fear but completely and holy out of a desire to help who they view as their fellow man while the railroad is morally an easy choice to side with they are far from perfect they have had their cover blown multiple times which led to heavy casualties as The Institute sent Purge squads to eliminate their safe houses and even their headquarters as a result the railroad is forced to operate in independent cells to prevent a cover breach from affecting the entire organization compartmentalization makes coordination a nightmare and the intentional neglect of proper operational documentation means that nobody is ever fully aware of the status of a mission agent or cell the railroad is also highly suspicious of Outsiders viewing everyone as a possible Institute informant Desdemona acts as a central coordinator planner and manager and if she were ever lost all knowledge regarding active operations sells and safe houses would be instantly lost effectively crippling the organization most troubling however is the fact that Desdemona is willing to commit an act which by the railroad's own logic is an active genocide by destroying the Institute the only known source of sense who the railroad views his people they are effectively ensuring the end of the synth people now autopsies conducted on synths showed virtually no indication of any anatomical differences between synths and humans aside from a small cluster of cybernetic implants suggesting that since may be able to fully replicate all aspects of human life including the possibility of procreation though this has never been fully explored so while it is unknown of citing Against The Institute would result in the genocide of the sense it is a very real concern and one which causes serious ethical dilemmas the Minutemen are another strong Contender for the moral High Ground however they are suffering from a severe lack of leadership the minutemen's ranks have slowly been eroded to a point of complete elimination after the death of General Becker nobody could decide on who could replace him with the Minutemen splintering into several smaller groups which were eventually picked off one by one the last group led by Colonel Hollis was attacked at Quincy and any survivors were left to the command of Corporal Preston Garvey over the next several weeks garvey's inexperience led to a no number of tactical blunders which led to the deaths of his entire Squad and most of the civilians under his protection a lack of any experienced officers means that rebuilding the Minutemen is going to be difficult at best and nearly impossible in practice issues with effective leadership and discipline are endemic of militias in general and caused serious setbacks during the American war for independence and the War of 1812 where militias were heavily relied on officers with little practical leadership experience were granted commissions over undisciplined and untrained militiamen and spent most of their time seeking Glory rather than winning wars some of the worst military defeats in early American history were presided over by inexperienced military commanders like Horatio Gates and even yes George Washington meanwhile experienced incompetent commanders like Benedict Arnold spent much of their careers winning battles in an attempt to seek Glory but lack of recognition for his efforts ultimately caused Arnold to turn traitor much of the War of 1812 was marked by campaigns that were utter failures as undisciplined militiamen misinter interpreted or defied orders failed to maneuver properly or simply deserted their posts ultimately a complete shift of mindset was required to change militias into full-fledged militaries whether this was through acts of Congress in the late 18th century or by the hiring of professional European officers in the Revolutionary War to train and lead the Continental Army likewise the Commonwealth Minutemen show all of the Hallmarks of playing soldier as settlements are defended new settlements are inducted and fortresses retaken all with little direction or long-term strategy or planning if the Commonwealth Minutemen are to have any chance of saving the Commonwealth they're going to need a serious leader capable of navigating extreme organizational change and implementing a robust trading system The Institute certainly espouses a set of lofty ideals but there is a lot of shady stuff happening in the background living human beings are being removed from their homes in the Commonwealth and replaced with since constructed to look sound and act exactly like them since machines that look at and sound human are treated as tools and when they actively Escape The Institute it is simply written off as a programming error and specially trained not programmed trained since called coursers are sent out to retrieve them ever wonder where all the people The Institute replaced with since went well for years The Institute maintained a lab dedicated to studying the forced evolutionary virus even against the protests of the lab supervisor Virgil Virgil stood by for years as he was ordered to continue infecting living human beings and dogs with fev just to document the results he even took it upon himself to create a cure for fev exposure but was ordered to stop as a cure wasn't within the scope of his research assignment only after Virgil defected and escaped The Institute was his lab shut down and one must wonder if this was done for moral reasons as father posits or simply because there was no one else qualified to run it many individuals in the Commonwealth are quote unquote encouraged to serve as informants expected to report certain information to the Institute as they find it it's uncertain if these informants do so out of greed fear or if they themselves are actually synths but but the fact of the matter is is that the institute for an organization that claims to just want to live their lives in peace certainly maintains a rather troubling system of spies and surveillance programs however the most Insidious act that the Institute is credited with is their role in the Commonwealth provisional government a well-meaning organization that hoped to fully establish some semblance of stability only to end in a deadly Massacre though there is no evidence to prove this Nick Valentine asserts that it was an Institute synth who massacred the cpg father insists that the Institute tried for four years to get the cpg running but simply walked away when it became apparent that it was tearing itself apart from infighting while there is no evidence one way or another Nick Valentine rarely makes unfounded claims on such serious matters and Father's penchant for telling half-truths in callousness are reason enough to doubt his claims that the Institute parted with the cpg amicably the icing on the cake however is Father the institute's leader AKA Sean the protagonist son states he was responsible for releasing the player from cryogenic stasis and when asked why he stated that he just wanted to see what you would do like like that's enough reason he also stated he didn't even think you would make it as far as Diamond City what a d-bag this is supposed to be your son and he didn't even care enough to have a courser standing by to take you directly to the Institute to avoid the Wasteland entirely I know he was raised his entire life away from you and doesn't really have that parent-child Bond but he has to realize that you're a living person who survived the Great War only to watch their child kidnap their spouse murdered and their home destroyed you can't I don't know show them a tiny Speck of basic human kindness there are basically no redeeming features for this faction or its leader essentially we're dealing with the enclave and everything but name an organization who claims to be a continuation of the old world and the only rightful claimant to that mantle they clearly exist because Bethesda wanted to give you player choice but also really wanted you to know who they think the bad guys are the Brotherhood of Steel starts off strong in this game you start by meeting pal Paladin dance a gung-ho member of the Brotherhood of Steel with a strong Devotion to duty and a firm belief in what he's doing is right the remaining members of his team are similarly loyal and you get the sense that the BOS might have done all right since the events of Fallout 3 but then you start to see what the BOS really is at its core Paladin asks you to investigate the whereabouts of the last BOS team that was sent to the Commonwealth along the way you discover that the last team was larger and better equipped than Dance's team before they were set upon by the Wasteland where is the logic in sending a smaller more poorly equipped Force to the same place where another team had already failed to return from this sort of logic sadly permeates many BOS operations throughout the Commonwealth sending children into live fire combat operations sending lone members in to perform clean sweeps in areas that entire teams were wiped out in clearly risk assessment is not part of BOS standard training Arthur Maxson is great at giving rah-rah speeches and it's clear that the entire Brotherhood contingent hangs on his every word but it's clear that he has very pronounced prejudices fueled by early childhood traumas and his extreme racist xenophobic and totalitarian Viewpoint is shared by nearly all members of the BOS ghouls super mutants and synths are eradicated without Mercy or question even if it is discovered that one of them has been a faithful member of the BOS for years if no one else could bear to pull the trigger don't worry good old Arty is more than happy to put a bullet in someone who just a couple days earlier was his most trusted and loyal follower if informed of their presence the BOS will waste no time Exterminating an entire community of escaped since completely ignorant of the fact that they could provide valuable intelligence regarding the Institute and ignoring the obvious fact that they are no longer aligned with the Institute he also orders the destruction of the railroad a sworn enemy of the Institute you might think the enemy of my enemy is my friend but nope Arthur Maxson can't suffer an organization that even sympathizes with synths to exist the BOS conduct protection rackets coercing locals into feeding and supplying their ranks against their will regardless of whether they are able to feasibly support such an act while the pridwin is impressive the technology on board is actually relatively primitive and the BOS entire plan for dealing with the Institute is let me check my notes to convince an Institute scientist who has already defected from the BOS twice before to join them and resurrect Liberty prime a robot so powerful that it prompted The Enclave to use an untested weapon of mass destruction to destroy it wow it is clear Arthur Maxson has no pity empathy or worst common sense it is clear the Brotherhood of Steel is still recruiting the general public into their ranks as pioneered by Owen Lyons however strict fraternization policies mean that members of the Brotherhood of Steel can no longer have emotional attachments with one another and can't form family units for 200 years this was an organization that you had to be born into as Brotherhood of Steel membership was passed down as a hereditary Birthright but now Maxson has completely upset the fabric of what it means to be the BOS hell Max and his only Elder because his great-grandfather founded the BOS in the first place and every Maxin that followed also served as Elder now they're just in a motionless extremist and some might even say terrorist organization if you folks are enjoying the video so far I would really appreciate you targeting the like button in that and just syncing every action point you have into that thing thank you and now back to the video so it's clear that each of these organizations is deeply flawed whether it's the duplicity of The Institute the extremism of the Brotherhood of Steel the hypersensitivity and hypocrisy of the railroad or the Preston garviness of the Minutemen there's a Darkness to each of these factions but for those of us that are not geralt of Rivia and must choose the lesser of two or in this case four evils how do we choose well let me paint a word picture in the style of a fala epilogue not the Fallout 4 epilogue that one sucks think more along the lines of New Vegas only written by someone with low O2 sets and was doped up on cold medicine for those from the Commonwealth that chose to side with the Brotherhood of Steel it very quickly became apparent that they didn't have the Commonwealth's best interests in mind the people of the Commonwealth proved unable to organize as they were forced to give up what meager resources they had to the Brotherhood of Steel enforcers some of the major settlements even found themselves crushed beneath the Brotherhood of Steel boot such as in the case of Good Neighbor populated almost exclusively by ghouls who the BOS labeled as Abominations and who possessed Advanced Technologies such as in the case of the memory Den where Medical Technology had become perverted into a form of Vice the BOS wasted no time marching into the streets of Good Neighbor guns blazing ensuring that every building was cleared of Filth before returning to the prit win meanwhile the streets ran red with blood and death rain from above as Brotherhood patrols encountered super mutants Raiders Gunners Ghouls and Refugee synths but these battles weren't fought with civilian protection or altruism in mind but rather with an emphasis on protecting Brotherhood assets Arthur Maxson made it no secret that as soon as the Institute was dealt with his priority would be to strip the Commonwealth of technology and resources and return to Washington DC as a man of his word he followed that promise to the letter long-term stabilization wasn't a concern and Maxson had no qualms leaving a power vacuum in the pridwin's Wake despite everything that they had been through the people of the Commonwealth continued to languish alone and isolated thank you with phase 3 fully implemented and the Brotherhood and railroad both neutralized The Institute continued to operate as they always had to the scientists who lived there The Institute was the single greatest hope for the future they worked diligently day in and day out confident that what they were doing could create a beautiful new world free of the sins of the old one but for the directorate that controlled everything behind the scenes there were conspiracies cover-ups and assassinations planned on the surface so that the poor irradiated starving barbaric people still living on the surface could finally succumb to the inevitability of the wastes The Institute formed a new Society built on the backs of synths whether they are truly sentient or not the synths continue to resist and struggle to escape but without the railroad it was only a matter of time before a courser was dispatched and they were brought back to the Institute under protest to resume their duties some say they've given up on the notion of Escape others that the glitch in their programming has finally been corrected others believe they are silently plotting a revolution but regardless of the true cause at least for now the escapes have stopped the Minutemen continued to try and help the people of the Commonwealth after the destruction of the Brotherhood of Steel and railroad but without skilled Military Officers effective training programs Logistics networks or a single strong leader to keep them organized and fighting toward a common goal the writing was already on the wall one by one Minutemen deserted as they sought to their own suffering families and the officers looking to carve a name for themselves in the annals of history squabbled and bickard until their hubris shot battered the Minutemen for a third and final time the railroad single-handedly defeated the two greatest scourges known to the Wasteland and for a Time rested easy knowing the Institute would never again abduct another person against their will the BOS survivors were forced to band together into small groups and became little more than Raiders as they tried to gather the necessary resources to make the long Trek Back to the capital Wasteland dejected and with the vast majority of their military technology and might utterly spent the synths were free to choose their own future no more need of facial reconstruction surgery or memory alterations but their future so far from certain will they be able to reproduce with humans or each other will they ever age or will they be forced to live as Nomads lest their apparent immortality become noticed if they stay in any one place for too long without the poisonous influence of The Institute from public figures like mayor McDonough in Diamond City there is a small chance that differences could be reconciled and synths and ghouls could once again be welcomed into the city's walls but that hope is drowned beneath years of social conditioning and paranoia the railroad itself struggled to find its place in this Brave New World they had engineered its compartmentalized system of cells agents safe houses and caches were utterly useless in the establishment of a new Commonwealth infrastructure by desdemona's own admission their operations simply couldn't function at scale their agents now stood out in the open guarding pre-war military checkpoints casting all caution and spycraft to the Wayside and Waiting in Vain to help synths who no longer required their assistance without an Institute to oppose on moral grounds the railroad found itself without an arch nemesis core Mission or unifying goal the Commonwealth had no major slaver networks to serve as a new adversary and soon the organization just sort of melted away like a radiation storm over the Atlantic many agents simply faded into the Commonwealth their mission satisfied the only indication they were ever a member told in the odd Fantastical story to their neighbors and grandchildren of the role they played in a conflict few even knew existed effectively founded on the principles of a lone surviving Corporal the concept of the Minutemen is an old seed that found fertile soil in the waste of the Commonwealth the sole survivor was given a title that had long since lost significance and meaning and upon it thrust the responsibilities values and courage of those that had come before some say the general of the Minutemen was a man a soldier by trade under his leadership the Minutemen finally realized the benefit of combat experience and military training officers were promoted based on leadership abilities and Devotion to the cause rather than seniority popular vote or political connections others say the general was a woman a practicing lawyer under her firm hand the Minutemen finally learned the meaning of civic duty community and the rule of law leaders and foot soldiers alike were held accountable for their actions and promoted through Merit solidarity and service regardless of who the sole survivor was none could deny that they took back the Commonwealth Brick by Brick they convinced settlers scavengers wastelanders and Farmers throughout the Commonwealth to join the Minutemen and work toward building a safer Commonwealth Cooperative trade networks formed not just with the central trading Hub of Bunker Hill but between a bustling network of provisioners running nearly every derelict roadway and rail bed in the Commonwealth they not only resurrected the Minutemen but reforged them they were restored to the castle a fortress devoted to freedom from tyranny in the ruins of Old Fort Independence without the Institute to stand in the way of progress Brotherhood have stealed to place unreasonable demands on a starving entire Commonwealth and with the railroad now satisfied that synths were protected the Minutemen could set about turning what had been a network of disjointed settlements brought together out of desperation fear and longing into a unified Nation finally free to choose its own future there are many who believe the Minutemen are too disorganized idealistic primitive and too undisciplined and they aren't wrong but there is one distinct advantage that separates them from every other faction and that is the Soul Survivor themselves as the general of the Minutemen you alone have the ability to choose the direction of the Minutemen the Brotherhood of Steel will be poisoned by the fear hatred and short-sightedness of Arthur Maxson until the day he dies when he will be replaced by someone even worse after a years of toxic culture and psychological conditioning the railroad is an organization who by its very nature only exists because the Institute exists and without them simply can't continue to do so their direction is dictated by Desdemona and even after everything the sole survivor can make possible she is still the central figure pulling the strings from the Shadows though you may become the director of The Institute you're still an outsider beholden to the directorate and will be expected to conduct yourself in the manner befitting a president of an institution of Higher Learning regardless of whether you choose Nader Nora you are not an academic and you will spend the rest of your life learning what is is already known to The Institute rather than charting your own future as I put the finishing touches on this script I find myself becoming physically angry that these are the choices we are given the Minutemen simply never felt like a complete story to me so much attention was spent on the workshop and that's great I love it that's what built this channel but because so much attention was spent linking that mechanic to the Minuteman faction there are virtually no quests that stand on their own as a faction it seems phoned in lazy and incomplete but when viewing all of the political sociological economical and martial aspects of the game and in the context by which we the player are expected to interact with them the Minutemen are simply the only faction that makes any degree of sense so the writers gave us a faction that doesn't feel complete doesn't carry any emotional weight and settles you with radiant quests that serve no narrative purpose and made that the only correct option to choose why what was the point perhaps we'll never know all we can do is search study and learn because while our interpretations of the Fallout universe may change with time context and experience War war never changes [Music] yeah I think I need a drink now do you guys know if it's okay to mix Nyquil with vodka anyway that's our video a bit more preachy than usual but I've been wanting to do this for some time let us know what you think in the comments below blah blah blah usual sign off mumbo jumbo I know you're not actually watching anymore and like And subscribe and all that jazz leave Ron Perlman in the comments if you're still listening check out our patreon and hopefully see you later when I'm feeling better and much more chipper

Channel: Grey Gaming

Views: 1,137,014

Keywords: Fallout 4, The Institute, The Minutemen, Brotherhood Of Steel, The Railroad, the Commonwealth, Fallout 4 Factions

Id: gGOioDBDzGU

Length: 38min 43sec (2323 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 07 2023