History Headscratchers / Fallout4

** "Why" do it comes down to your own beliefs and the way the game works (since you need to pick sides to make it to the end game). To start with, Father isn't the problem with the Institute. He was the result of its kidnapping a baby and massacring a Vault, and there is no sign that you will be his successor unless you actually go along with the Institute's goals for a decent time. You could certainly take it over and try to reform it- but the other Factions would never agree to this (barring the Minutemen). The Brotherhood wants to eliminate all Synths and destroy any possibility of them ever being created again, believing that they are even more damaging than the bombs that made the world the way it is. The Railroad wants the synths freed right now, and arn't going to sit on their hands just because you promised to reform them. Its made pretty clear that you arn't an absolute dictator-there are plenty of other authority figures who all oppose you if you go the Institute route. They don't have a "Self destruct" button (because who puts that on their house?), all the other Factions sabotage the reactor to make it explode. They will actively fight any of the reforms the SS would try, making that a slow process that might be undone the second he dies all while the Commonwealth suffers. Finally, the two plans you listed require the metaknowledge that "Father will make me his successor". To actually get that knowledge in game, you have to complete the Battle of Bunker hill quest, and keep in the Institutes good graces afterwords. Neither of the Institute Hostile factions are interested in actually taking the technology-the Brotherhood see it as a target and the Railroad would probably like to have a way to make new Synths but doesn't seem to hold it as very important. Its pretty clear that you couldn't just tell *everyone* to stand down and let one of the other Factions conquer the place, the Coursers are directed by someone else and the Synth shut down button only works on the most outdated models.
TLDR: The BoS/RR don't *want* to conquer the place, and putting you in a position of nominal power wouldn't help their goals much.

[[folder: "Power armor is limited now?"]]

[[folder: The Brotherhood of Steel are evil, now?]]

** IIRC, the Brotherhood/NCR war took place more than 4 years prior to the start of NV, so the West Coast Brotherhood could still be embroiled in conflict during this time or outright destroyed. I don't feel like the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood would be all that tolerant of a more fascistic splinter of the Brotherhood expanding into their territory. While the Outcasts were very weak in [=FO3=], perhaps they were able to reestablish contact with the West Coast and thus got the reinforcements needed to turn themselves into a major power? The CW Brotherhood suddenly going full-fascist while Lyons is in charge(seeing as 4 apparently takes place a single year after the end of 3). Edit: So after reading the Main Page, I remembered that 2287 is ten years after the end of [=FO3=]. However, apparently both Elder Lyons ''and'' Sarah Lyons are dead!? Owyn dying makes sense, but Sarah was barely in her 20s during 3! How in the hell did she die in the intervening years? Plus, apparently Arthur Maxson, who was being brought up as Lyons' ward, has now gone full-jerkass despite being raised by the third game's BigGood!?

** Thinking about it, it always bugged me how the Capital Wasteland was ''infested'' with super mutants, who all came from this one small vault. Now I'm wondering if many of those super mutants didn't venture forth from the commonwealth instead, and the reason behind all the different types of super mutants was that they were of different origins.

[[folder: Like The West chapter?]]

* I can understand why the [=BoS=] hate Super Mutants(mostly evil except for the rare sane members) and Synths(spys for The Institute)but why do they hate sane ghouls? Its not like they are going to go feral at any second.

[[folder: Is there a joint Minutemen/Railroad ending?]]

[[folder: How has Kellogg lived so long?]]
* He kidnapped Shaun roughly 60 years before the Sole Survivor leaves the vault. Shaun is now an old man, yet Kellogg is still alive and kicking while being at least 80 years old? He's not a ghoul, so did institute tech including his cybernetics keep his body from aging at a normal rate?

[[folder: Where the hell are all the Robobrains?]]

[[folder: Laser Muskets?]]

[[folder: What the hell is up with the Institute?]]

[[folder: Father and the Boy *SPOILERS*]]

[[folder: Shaun?]]

[[folder: Shaun's Fouled-up Logic]]

[[folder: Whence Cometh T-60?]]

[[folder: Medical Exam]]

** That's actually how the game displayed it in story, the procedure cleaned people up, but the vault logs show that the vault experiment involved testing to see if they would go back if the drugs were available again. After which the vault collapsed. So it's pretty clear it doesn't so much solve the addiction as solve the issue of lethal withdrawl. The rest of Cait's being "cured" can be justified largely on her own actions. Even her statement about not wanting it can easily be read more as her own personal growth rather than the machine.

[[folder: What's with the Glowing Sea?]]

[[folder: What's with the Children of Atom?]]

[[folder: MassEffect Comparison]]
* Why does everyone compare the dialogue tree in this game to the one in Mass Effect? It's similar in that it's a system optimized for console over the PC, but really it's far more restrictive than the Mass Effect trees ever were. The nature of it being four pointed means that it can have at maximum four choices, rather than the circular system from Mass Effect which could give you many many more options on what to say should the developers ever feel it reasonable to put it in there. The only work around offered by the game is to my knowledge one scene where you can pick your code name for the Railroad, where it gives nine options by surrendering one option to "more" several times. Basically, it's not so much a Mass Effect style dialogue system, which is based on the idea the choices will be made by moving the sticks, it's based on a d-pad and only gives as many choices as exist on a d-pad.

[[folder: Patriot's Last Message]]

[[folder: Irish Names]]

[[folder: Follow the Freedom Trail]]

[[folder: Brotherhood "Betrayal"]]

[[folder: Vault 81 Scientist]]
* So when the vault 81 scientists were sealed inside their secret section of the Vault, and the Overseer sabotaged the nozzles and stop answering their communications... why didn't they walk out of their section of the vault? They complain about being left there to die. But the exit from their section of the vault (The one you use after finding Curie) is locked from the INSIDE. With a terminal that's not even password protected. They literally at any time could've walked to the exit and left. Yet their journal entries and the messages to the Overseer treat this as if they are stuck in their section of the Vault with no way out. Sure, it'd have been awkward as all hell to explain what they were doing, but seeing as they were treating being left there as a fate worse than death...

[[folder: Institute's gone but still dealing with Coursers]]

[[folder: Is Glory a Courser?]]

[[folder: "At least we still have the Backup"]]

[[folder: Variable sanity of Mr. Handy robots]]

[[folder: Institute's colossal scientific breakthroughs]]

** Well you become a full Railroad member by wiping out the switchboard of Synths and opening its vault (as in bank vault, not vault-vault) and emptying it of the prototype it contained. So at the very least several Synths likely saw you doing that with Deacon (And a courser could've retrieved dead synth memory data when the switchboard went dark). Seeing that, and that the door that was voice print-locked in the former Railroad HQ would make it fairly obvious to them what happened who you've been chumming with - you wouldn't have been able to otherwise open the vault door the Institute itself couldn't open. Alternatively, Old Man Stockton (A major railroad agent in Bunker Hill)'s grand-daughter [[spoiler;is a synth. Assuming he didn't adopt a runaway Synth after the memory wipe]], it's possible she's an Institute plant. Furthermore, the [=BoS=] is capable of figuring out where the Railroad is based out of, so it seems not that much more unlikely the Institute can figure out some basic facts.

[[folder: Maxson's Questionable Choice for [[spoiler: Danse]]]]

[[folder: [[spoiler: Synth!Shaun's future]]]]

[[folder: Why people in this game are still miserable?]]

[[folder: Behemoths?]]

[[folder: Hancock disliked that?]]

[[folder: Created items that still look bad]]

[[folder: Diamond City Radio]]

[[folder: Accents]]

[[folder: An Infant Knowing and loving Charades]]

[[folder: Why is Travis the one in charge of the radio?]]

** (OP) Yes, 111 does have clean water. The water fountains are all drinkable and no radiation. Messed me up the first time I ran into a fountain outside and it nuked me... And there's a huge generator in the bottom floor of the vault, throwing lightning bolts around and frying roaches. What can and can't be recycled is extremely arbitrary; there's no reason the cryo pods couldn't be scrapped like the houses in Sanctuary. And there are huge areas of open land above the vault. There's only one way in or out and it heavily depends on power, so that would be a severe drawback, but build some farms and fence them in, as many players do with their settlements (I tend to use 'lots and lots and lots and lots of missile launchers' as a 'fence') and Bob's yer uncle. Safe from radiation storms, safe water, safe places to sleep. Borrow the hydroponics from Graygarden or Vault 81, (or use the new Automatron garden plots) and you don't even need to go outside for food. As to not having a workshop... there are loads of cranes, forklifts, bulldozers, front loaders and pickup trucks around.

** You don't have to go through Sanctuary to reach Vault 111. There's a road leading southwards that comes out nearer the Ranger cabin, and an enormous field to the north and east that would be easy to cross if it weren't the edge of the map. What's more you can teleport to a place you can't see, such as the beginning of "Mass Fusion" or the many times synths appear from nowhere. If you're feeling charitable and say that the institute didn't know the terrain in the Vault 111 area at the time, you could presume that Kellogg scouted the entrance and the rest teleported in. They don't even need to teleport into the vault itself, just to the entrance.

[[folder: Why is Eddie Winter so sane?]]
* In the mission Long Time Coming you help Nick Valentine track down the code to Eddie Winter's vault and kill him. Winter is still like himself (except being an immortal ghoul) despite the fact it's been implied that he's been in there for 200 years. Supposing he had enough food and water to last him during that time, why is he still sane? Being alone for 200 years even with entertainment surely would have had to done something to his psyche after being trapped in there for centuries?

[[folder: Why can't you change the other Vaults?]]

** Only Vault 88 has Vault-Tec workshops (along with control boards). The other vaults presumably had their workshops removed once they were completed.

[[folder: Post-War Armor in a Pre-War Park]]

[[folder: Are the Pack cannibals?]]

[[folder: Soviet weapons in Nuka-World]]

* Has there ever been an explanation for which vaults receive which model of Pipboy? It seems to be arbitrary as to whether you receive a 2000, 3000 or 4000 even though each model was made on or before 2077. Why would they ever issue you something like the 2000 series when the 4000 series is objectively better in every way? What makes this especially strange is that the rest of Vault Tec's equipment is very standardized.
** There isn't a Pipboy 4000. In any case, it looks like geographical area is the deciding factor on who gets what. The people of Boston get the 3000 MK 4, South California gets 2000 pluses, and the vaults of Vegas and DC get 3000As. There isn't a lot of practical difference between them-the 3000 series basically adds a grieger counter, radio, and flashlight. While they are incredibly useful for a Fallout protagonist (especially given the switch to FPS), Vault Tech never really intended for anyone to actually leave the vaults (for the most part), making the features unnecessary. After ally-why bother giving the best equipment available to your lab rats?

* It is explained that the Institute took Shaun to get access to DNA that hasn't been affected by radiation remaining from the war. But this opens up a whole load of questions regarding how they handled the rest of Vault 111's population. Why kill everyone else except for one parent? Wouldn't the other vault inhabitants provide loads of further pure genetic samples that would help with their research? Kellogg makes vague mention of "not leaving any loose ends". Okay, how would these constitute loose ends? Also, the reason the player character is left alive because as a parent he/she had similar DNA to Shaun and their DNA could be used to complete the research if something went wrong with Shaun. Okay, then why do they so casually kill the parent holding the child when that justification applies just as well there? They were in a position where they could easily just overpower and pacify him/her non-lethally.

[[folder: How is Codsworth Still Running?]]

[[folder: Why destroy the Institute at all?]]

** "Why" do it comes down to your own beliefs and the way the game works (since you need to pick sides to make it to the end game). To start with, Father isn't the problem with the Institute. He was the result of its kidnapping a baby and massacring a vault, and there is no sign that you will be his successor unless you actually go along with the Institute's goals for a decent time. You could certainly take it over and try to reform it- but the other Factions would never agree to this (barring the Minutemen). The Brotherhood wants to eliminate all Synths and destroy any possibility of them ever being created again, believing that they are even more damaging than the bombs that made the world the way it is. The Railroad wants the synths freed right now, and arn't going to sit on their hands just because you promised to reform them. Its made pretty clear that you arn't an absolute dictator-there are plenty of other authority figures who all oppose you if you go the Institute route. They don't have a "Self destruct" button (because who puts that on their house?), all the other Factions sabotage the reactor to make it explode. They will actively fight any of the reforms the SS would try, making that a slow process that might be undone the second he dies all while the Commonwealth suffers. Finally, the two plans you listed require the metaknowledge that "Father will make me his successor". To actually get that knowledge in game, you have to complete the Battle of Bunker hill quest, and keep in the Institutes good graces afterwords. Neither of the Institute Hostile factions are interested in actually taking the technology-the Brotherhood see it as a target and the Railroad would probably like to have a way to make new Synths but doesn't seem to hold it as very important. Its pretty clear that you couldn't just tell *everyone* to stand down and let one of the other Factions conquer the place, the Coursers are directed by someone else and the Synth shut down button only works on the most outdated models.

[[folder: Where is the VATS Targeting System Located?]]
* Most people tend to assume that it must be part of the Pipboy, something that could never be disproven due to the fact that in every previous game you have always gained access to the Pipboy before you fire your first shot. But in this game the Sole Survivor straight out of a cryo chamber that he got into immediately after fleeing his pre-war house has full access to it long before he puts one on for the first time. So where is it? For it to work as it is portrayed, then it would have to speed up the frames per second that your brain is capable of processing and increase your reflexes to match (thus giving the impression of slowing down time) and it must have some means of near-instantaneously calculating and relaying to you the percentage variables of hitting any designated body part on your target (it seems unlikely to be a genuine HUD unless contact lenses are involved). My only guess is some kind of cerebral implant - which whilst former soldier Nate and any genuine vault dweller could logically have one, it seems to me very far reaching that civilian Nora would buy one, and even less likely that the Courier would have access to the surgeon or autodoc required.

[[folder: Can synths reproduce?]]

[[folder: No Refrigeration?]]

[[folder: Why Is No-One Suspicious After You Leave the Institute?]]

[[folder: Institute doesn’t reclaim Nick Valentine]]

[[folder: How Synth DNA is created]]

[[folder: The disciples as an AmazonBrigade]]

** my best bet would be those are another Branch of The Brotherhood Of Steel. In case you don't know, they have 3 (known) branches: The West Coast branch, The Mid-Western branch (perhaps non-canon, but they are mentioned in New Vegas) and the East Coast Branch. The last branch has rebelled and broken off from the rest and is practically a different faction of its own, and Fallout 4 is set 4 years before the event of Fallout New Vegas, before The Western branch was beaten into little more than a husk of it former self, so it's not impossible that The Brotherhood Of Steel we see in the game is the "True" one trying to destroy its Rebellious eastern cousin, or The Mid-western Branch making their move in the East. It is not however possible that they could be the Brotherhood Outcasts, since they are so undermanned that they have to use Robots as a large chunk of their troops and they so poorly-equipped that they have to get help from a complete stranger to open the Armory to get some more weapons, they barely hold their own in Capital Wasteland, let alone expanding into The Commonwealth. However, we shouldn't rule out the possibility that The Brotherhood Of Steel is our allies early on the game and turn on us later, or Vice Versa. Mostly because Bethesda has learned their mistake of portraying The East Coast Brotherhood as complete White Knights in a cynical Nuclear-desolated world. there must be more Grey areas in Fallout 4, making The East Coast Brotherhood more morally questionable would be grand.
** Some sharp eyed folks have spotted the symbol of the Mid-Western branch on objects related to just group, along with the fact that they've been previously shown to have airships like the one pictured. The Mid-Western branch for the record is generally sympathetic, but much more fascist and imperialist than any of the other branches.

** Going from their appearance in ''Fallout Tactic'', the mid-western branch is unusually tolerant of mutants (and even recruits super-mutants) but governs by military dictatorship and forcefully 'extends their protection' to settlements that have resources to offer. Choosing them would keep the area safe and orderly, but would result in limited freedoms and handing more power over to a militaristic cult.

** They aren't ''evil'' as much as "almost exactly like the [[VideoGame/FalloutTacticsBrotherhoodOfSteel MidWest chapter]]; wich had a "either you agree to serve us, provide us with men and supplies, and we protect you, or we kill you and take your stuff" policy.

** This also somewhat accounts for the possibility of a canon evil karma Vault Dweller; if they were good, and destroyed AAF, then it's just part of Maxson distancing himself from Lyons' leadership policy, but if the VD decided to destroy the Citadel instead, it's entirely reasonable that Maxson happened to not be on site, rallied the remnants of the East Coast Brotherhood together with the Outcasts, and possibly even the now massacred Enclave, and reinstituted complete isolationism and technology hoarding. On the one hand, regular BoS fervor, on the other, absolutely traumatic loss of everything he loved solely because of the one person they opened the gate for.

* Why is the [=BoS=] compared to the West chapter when they have more similarities with the [[VideoGame/FalloutTacticsBrotherhoodOfSteel MidWest one]]?

*** Except that bringing Hancock on their airship will have the occasional BOS soldier badmouth him for being a Ghoul. Even your other companion, Danse, will call him a filthy Ghoul when swapping companions. They may not shoot regular Ghouls on sight, but they're really not fond of them as a whole and are probably hoping they go Feral so they can gun them down for a valid reason.

[[folder: Where the hell are all the robobrains?]]

** It looks like they are going to be part of the DLC that will be released in March. If you really miss the robobrains, you will be able to find them again in the Automatron DLC.

** If they had been using pure stealth from the start, no one would have ever known they were there, but they introduced themselves first. A loading screen mentions that the Institute initially tried to work with the wastelanders, but "mutual mistrust ended that quickly." It seems they came up, offered to trade technology and such, maybe showed off their Gen1's, and then that prototype infiltrator went crazy in Diamond City. The wastelanders turned against the Institute and started forming the Commonwealth Provisional Government. The Institute responded by killing all the potential leaders, likely worrying about the CPG uniting the whole Commonwealth against them.

* Something that is Confusing me, is so far ( due to getting severely distracted by hoarding/settlement building im only a little into the main storyline), ive heard several Brotherhood characters talking about the leadership of the Lyons family somewhat disparagingly, claiming they were essentially not focused enough on hoarding technology, and too philanthropic/prone to white Knighting ( and Example being one of Danse's lines about Fort Independence when its under Minuteman control),when under their leadership, not only did they completely crush an opponent who had handed them humiliatingly severe defeats in the past (assuming the bunker Frank Horrigan raided During Fo2 wasn't the only facility the Enclave compromised), but they acquired the largest single Cache of advanced Technology, materials and knowledge the Brotherhood had ever acquired in its entire HISTORY since their original members Deserted the US army. Not to mention a massive increase in manpower and support, almost entirely due TO their now-mocked beliefs/policies. im..just curious about the level of Mental Gymnastics involved in rationalising all that away as being "too soft".

[[folder:Status of the MidWest Brotherhood]]

** But why and how do we have absolutly ''nothing'' about them? I mean, caravans are able to bring news of the Mojave yet have ''nothing'' about the huge empire/reammanants with a few territories/the guys that tried to start something but failed in the MidWest.

* It seems a bit odd that of all things, ''plastic'' is extremely common as a material in the Commonwealth, when you realize that not only were oil shortages a {{Understatement/humongous problem}} before 2077, but also that Plastic decomposes faster than things like Aluminum.

* Knowing that the game actually has followers talk to each other when you trade them in for one another and you can move them to any settlement you wish (unless a glitch prevents them from doing so), why is it that Bethesda can't give the player the option to have multiple people follow them at once? Does Bethesda have something against working in teams? This is especially absurd when you consider [[spoiler:the Survivor can potentially become the leader of a local defense force that ''does'' operate in groups to patrol the Wastelands]]. Some might say "Three's a crowd!", but I say "There's power in numbers!". Really, other than ArtificialStupidity induced NPCRoadblocks and potential kill-stealing, what could be so bad about having multiple followers at once? And don't say it would be a GameBreaker, since this game's NintendoHard as it is.

### I can't say for sure whether Nick understands him, but to me it seems like he doesn't. After all, he's a [[spoiler: failed prototype Gen 3]] synth and the Institute designed them to be [[Movie/BladeRunner "more human than human"]] even with normal human weaknesses so its possible he simply doesn't have the RF transponder or whatever.
### It seems to go on a case by case basis. Some, like the Mr. Handy at the McClaren family house from ''3'' seem to go mad the moment the encounter an error in their programmed routine. Others, like Codsworth and Curie, manage to go 210 years and actually gain sentience. It seems like the ones programmed to go out and learn or constantly do things are the ones that stay sane vs the ones trapped inside a factory or home.

[[folder:Robobrains from Robco? (Automatron Spoilers)]]
* Why is the Pre-War facility making Robobrains hidden in a Robco Facility when the Robobrain is a General Atomics design (as mentioned in the first game) - thus built by Robco's competitors?

** As I recall, there was also prototype Mr. Handy in the Robco gallery in New Vegas. Also, they collaborated on Liberty Prime, so they likely weren't ''that'' competitive.
** The Fallout US government has a long history of seizing things by eminent domain. Presumably they took/bought the RobCo underground lab since what they were doing was illegal, immoral, and kept from the public (according to old lore, officially the Robobrain only used chimpanzee brain, not humans). They then converted it into making Robobrains, since it already had all or most of what they needed to do so and it was nicely underground away from John Q. Public's prying eyes.

** Major wars were going on. Try researching products like the Colt 1911, which were made by sewing-machine and typewriter companies in addition to their primary manufacturers during [=WW2=] so as to meet demand. If the pre-war government believed it would need large numbers of robobrains its entirely likely that licensing was foisted on the developers.

** For the people who want to be artistic with the settlement building. Much like [[Minecraft]], it seems there are a lot of people who play largely to build elaborate settlements. (Me, everywhere gets the same square 3 story building and missile launchers.)

* In Far Harbor during the first conversation with DiMa, he mentions there is no non-fatal test to determine if someone is a synth. But couldn't you simply anesthetize someone, perform surgery and dig around inside them until you find wiring or synthetic components, then stitch them back up with no harm done?

** I'm not saying it's practical or doesn't require a great amount of medical knowledge, but it ''is'' a way to check for someone being a synth, which contradicts DiMA's claim.

* After completing the Cappy in a Haystack quest we find the creator of Nuka-Cola is a head in a jar trapped underneath his old office. Like most people he's gone a bit loopy and suicidal from years of solitude and the prospect that Sierra Petrovita will be the only person he will ever get to talk to. I am a bit confused as to why you can't just offer to turn him into a RoboBrain. While the system keeping him alive depends on the room's power, there's no reason why you can't build or bring in a secondary power source. And, once that's done, transfer his brain into the more mobile Robobrain chassis. Was there an explanation for why this wasn't an option and I just missed it?

*** But why would the handmade rifles need to so closely resemble a specific model of actual prewar gun any more than the pipe guns do? And even ''if'' the raiders do have some reason to only churn out guns that closely mimic existing prewar models, why only soviet AKs?

* The Institute HQ is filled with technological marvels that would be a massive boon to anyone who takes it over. So why do the other factions destroy it at the end of the campaign? Wouldn't they want to take it over and use the technology to their advantage? Especially in the case of the Brotherhood of Steel. The BOS is s technology hoarding organization. Seeking out new tech and taking it over is basically their entire reason for existing. The notion that they would destroy such a massive technology cache rather then take it over defies explanation. I could understand if they were losing the battle inside the building and they were left with no choice but to destroy it in order to win, but that's not how it plays out in the game. By the time you reach the self destruct device, you've already wiped out just about everyone and everything that can fight back against you. So there really isn't any reason whatsoever to blow the place up instead of capturing it.

*** Little to offer besides the Synths? Really? You don't think the Institute teleportation technology is something the Brotherhood might be interested in? After all, it's only a totally revolutionary method of transportation that would more radically change society even more then the invention of the automobile. Not to mention all the other crazy super-advanced Sci-Fi stuff we see in the Institute. Capturing that facility would have BOS scientists working around the clock for years on new developments.
*** If they are interested in the teleporter (which may or may not have been stolen from the Aliens), then they have a verity of ways to learn more about it even with the Institute as a crater. They took one of the Institute's top scientists to help make Liberty Prime in their ending, Virgil is probably still alive, and they have notes and a one-way relay assuming you stuck with them the whole time. That is really the beginning and end of the advanced science in the Institute. In their minds, destroying the Institute completely was the only way to stomp out all traces of Synths and the process that made them. Taking over the base and trying to destroy all traces of Synth technology risks that something leaks, which is simply unacceptable to them. If even a trace survived, it would not could destroy humanity. This is also the East Coast Brotherhood, Elder Lyons' ideals were not completely buried with him. They value protecting people over preserving technology, and see the Synths as a threat. Its not like they preserve all technology always-one of the first things the original BOS did was kill a bunch of scientists working on the F.E.V.

* In the base game, this was explained away by suggesting that Nick was junked. However, Far Harbor shows that Nick ''wasn’t'' junked, he was liberated by [=DiMa=] who also escaped. And that it was [=DiMa=] who threw Nick in a dumpster after knocking him unconscious. Now, the Institute will reclaim all synths in Acadia, if you inform them of its existence, including [-DiMa=]. So why didn’t the Institute ever try to recapture Nick? It isn’t like he’s hiding. He has a prominent office right there in Diamond City - where Kellogg briefly lived, and Coursers visited in the past. Why leave him alone?

** General Bekker died in 2282, five years before the events of the game, so your assumptions about Shaw are incredibly off. The general who died in the Castle was General [=McGann=], a completely different character. As for Preston, presumably the Minutemen had artillery placed in their other settlements the same way you do. I don't think Radio Freedom is strictly necessary for the flares to work. You can turn it off and still use the artillery and, from a logical perspective, the gunners can shoot towards smoke without needing radio confirmation. Without the schematics, the guns would be impossible to repair and would break down in time, likely leading the settlers to scrap them for parts, but its possible at least one would exist long enough for Preston to have heard it in his lifetime. [[/folder]]

** The Fallout world exists in an [[AlternateHistory alternate universe]] stuck in the 1950s. The Salem Witch Trials were not as popularly known then, and subsequently Salem never became a witchy tourist hotspot. With far less tourist money coming in, the museum would have had much lower priority to the government when it came to renovating and updating the exhibits.

** The Fallout world exists in an [[AlternateUniverse alternate universe]] stuck in the 1950s. The Salem Witch Trials were not as common knowledge then, and subsequently Salem did not become a touristy witch Mecca. Pre-War, the museum would have generated much less interest from the rest of the nation so its exhibits would not be as elaborate or as technologically up-to-date to begin with.

** It's definitely a retcon, there's even an entry talking about how the US military gave Nuka-World that specific X-01 suit as a gift. With 76 now straight up having X-01 obtainable in the early 2100s, we can be pretty sure Bethesda considers it a pre-War power armor. What's particularly egregious is Bethesda retconned this within ''their own game''. The best we can assume is that like a poster above stated, the actual ''designs'' for the Power Armor were kept under wraps and the suit itself was never actually deployed, with only a prototype making it to a theme park. The Enclave then found these plans and actually deployed the power armor into common (well, relatively) usage.

[[folder:Suddenly LGBT Survivor]]
* I'll probably get a lot of flak for bringing this up, but here it goes: So even though the Survivor was happily married to a member of the opposite gender ''and'' had a child with them, they suddenly have no problem flirting with the same sex once it's the future, their child's gone missing, and their spouse has been tragically murdered right before their eyes. I know that the point of these games is to be whoever you want, but how often do people make a complete 180* with their orientation and family dynamic? If the idea was that the Survivor was potentially bisexual to begin with, why didn't the game give you the option to have a [[GayOption same-sex spouse]] or simply be a single parent from the start?
** I just role-played that my Sole Survivor was bisexual, but fell in love with Nate and had a child with him. Shaun's still her kid, so of course she's going to go after the boy. As for her flirting with other women: it's really up to the player, but the way I did it was that she ached for a companion and felt a bond with Cait so they became lovers. Nate's been dead for quite some time and she figured he wouldn't want her to be miserable. Though he probably would have choice words for why she's dating a washed out former raider who spent her time getting baked on psycho and beating people up for a living.
** And that's, you know, the same gender as her.
** Bisexual people aren't nearly as rare as people seem to think they are. And being in a heterosexual or homosexual marriage won't change what you're attracted to. To be honest this question seems silly.
** No it isn't. If they could be gay later, why couldn't they just give the option to have them be gay to begin with? A little consistency would be nice.
** You don't stop being bi after getting into a heterosexual relationship. Bisexuality isn't revoked after you say "I do"
** But why can't you choose to be in a gay relationship from the start? What's stopping that?
** The Nuclear Family pun
** Nuclear families have ''two'' kids.
** Nuclear families can have any amount of kids. The definition is simply "Mother and father and their children", with any amount being a nuclear family. To answer the main question, adding options is difficult, especially when it would massively change the main story. They would have to change the intro, find another voice actor to do a bunch of lines, rewrite some vital story plots, etc. This is pretty much the easiest way to do it while still allowing players homosexual relationships for their character if they want.
** Considering that Fallout America stagnated culturally and never really moved past the 1950's, which was a time where homosexuality was viewed as a mental disorder, it could just be that is expected players that imagine their character to be gay and are just hiding it, because well...suddenly social pariah. Besides, at the time, it wasn't unheard of for homosexual people to be in a straight relationship, have a family, but have a little bit of forbidden snu-snu on the side.
** And of course they might just have been bi the whole the time. That and I don't think Bethesda really wanted to do romance options in the first place. And I can see why. They're not terribly good at it. Grateful they cut that content from New Vegas.
** It'd also require more explanation where Shaun came from. With a male and a female parent, there's an easy explanation built in. Without that, there would either need to be an ExpositionDump as to why two same-sex people have a baby, or there would be a lot of people complaining about why didn't they explain it.
** Surrogates? Adoption? Sperm donation? Foster care? There's plenty of simple explanations for why a same-sex couple could have a child.
** The issue is that it's a plot point that Shaun is the biological child to both the Sole Survivor and their spouse; the Institute wants Shaun for his DNA and they leave his parents on ice as back ups.
** What the Institute wants is perfectly preserved Pre-War DNA which they could have gotten from anyone in Vault 111. They chose Shaun because he was an infant and therefor much more malleable. Of course why they chose to kill everyone except the Sole Survivor and not offer them a place to chill away from the irradiated mess that is the Commonwealth is for a different Headscratcher. Anyone would have done so an adopted infant would have worked just as fine. If they're willing to kill one spouse pointlessly the backup excuse rings hollow. Clearly it's not that important.
** They're willing - really, Kellogg's willing - to kill one spouse because the other one's still alive and on ice. They leave Shaun's parents alive specifically because they're genetic matches to him, so if anything goes wrong with him and they have to resort to the back up, they wouldn't have to start all over from scratch because the Soul Survivor's dna would be somewhat compatible.
** Simple, the Sole Survivor is bisexual. He/she just happened to fall in love with a member of the opposite sex and sire a child with him/her. A nuclear war and being frozen in ice for 210 isn't going to make them stop being bisexual. As to why they would start dating again when they're supposed to be avenging their spouse? Well, that's kind of up to you to decide.
** Personally I rp my sole survivor as being bisexual, but I did come up with a head-canon for a gay sole survivor; their spouse was simply TheBeard. A close friend, someone they cared very deeply for, but ultimately someone they married to cover up for their sexuality in the regressive 1950s-style world that was Pre-war America in the Fallout universe. Granted there's some evidence that homosexuality wasn't as taboo in the 2070s as it was in the real world 1950s, but make no mistake, there are still people who feel the need to lie and hide their sexuality in the real world, 2016 despite all the progress that's been made in gay rights, so it's still a possible reasoning.
** While the Fallout universe has retained a visual style similar to the 1950s (largely due to the failure to advance micro-computing), there's no indication that social advances haven't occurred. For one, when fleeing home at the start of the game, one of the clusters of people passed are a pair of women embracing. Notice there's no use of derogatory terms for homosexual in terminal entries or tapes. The 1950s was a time when that sort of thing was slung around in euphemisms all the time. As for the Survivor themselves, it's entirely likely they were simply bisexual and the partner they settled down with was of the opposite gender. Also don't forget that the Survivor's been through a massive string of personal trauma and loss. They could very well be simply basing their romantic interest in the people who are supporting them.
*** Pretty much the only good thing about living in the Fallout universe unless you happen to enjoy danger and violence is the equal rights among most of the settlements that we see across the franchise. Being a male, female, black, white, gay or heterosexual ''human'' takes a distant second to survival. I've always wondered if that was a deliberate piece of irony put in by the writers; equal rights was only achieved by leveling our entire civilization and then projecting all of our prejudices upon the ghouls and mutants that popped up afterwards. And funnily enough, a large number of the more bigoted factions we meet such as the NCR (according to Major Knight), Brotherhood of Steel and Caesars Legion? All based upon the pre-war days in some way or another.

[[/folder]]

** You're all assuming the radioactive fallout was generated by the bomb. However the fallout a bomb would create only lasts 50 years. Meaning it would be long gone by fallout 4. There is one thing that would generate radioactive fallout for centuries or eve millennia though - a nuclear meltdown. And guess what's just to the west of the Creator of Atom? You guessed it a ruined nuclear power plant. Depending on how bad the meltdown was the dead sea is could be around for hundreds or even *thousands* of years.

** I dunno about you, but when I met my special somepony, she already had her own name. While I have 'pet names' for her, they're not exactly ''her'' name. The only people you get to choose permanent names for are your kids, generally.

[[folder:"X is an okay place to live"]]
* I've seen this sentence in every fallout page and I don't remember seeing it in-game, where is it from and why is it linked to Fallout?
** Wiki/TVTropes' own running gag for the series.
[[/folder]]

** The Minutemen aren't an army simply because its members don't want to be one. Aside from a small handful of full-time professionals (Sole Survivor, Preston, Ronnie, Radio Freedom guy presumably) they have 'day jobs' working at their settlements; farming, building, ranching and the families/communities they live with. Being Minutemen is an unfortunate necessity of life being so shit in the Commonwealth.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Why bother though?]]
* It's not as complex as my questions about the Institute as a whole, but one of the reasons I ended up disengaging from the second act/end of the game (besides the fact a lot of what you have to do is based on the logic of ButThouMust rather than any logic at all) is that I don't get why the Sole Survivor gets embroiled in faction wars, or continues to be embroiled, [[spoiler: after finding Shaun]]. I know this is a matter of personality, but after doing all that and discovering that not only [[spoiler: did I NOT actually miss the first ten years of my son's life]], which, frankly, would be devastating enough, but [[spoiler: I actually missed his ENTIRE life and he's become unrecognisable and the region's BigBad]], I would probably go home and just cry for the rest of my life. I mean, regardless of how you play the game, the Sole Survivor's primary motivation is finding Shaun. This is a parent that gets released from cryo and IMMEDIATELY goes on a roaring rampage and starts tearing people limb from limb to get to their son (and might possibly have only ever previously done battle in a courtroom). So finding out what you do seems like it would be completely demoralising, and I personally don't get why the PC doesn't either a) try to [[spoiler: stick with their son]] or b) descend into depression and/or feel like a complete failure and retreat to some backwoods settlement somewhere [[spoiler: if it's a matter of refusing to compromise their morals.]] I guess the crux of the matter is that the tension and the driving narrative force in the game is jossed halfway through (I mean the PC's reresponsesponse to finding out [[spoiler: that the baby boy they moved heaven and hell to find is an evil old man whose life they missed]] is essentially [[DullSurprise "Oh man, that's terrible...oh well."]]) and the story tries to transfer that player investment (which might have been a stretch to begin with) to a matter of ideology, or more charitably, matters of common good. On a meta level, it just seems like a poor writing decision. But just looking at it in-game, there is absolutely no real reason the Sole Survivor should care enough to go the lengths they do in ANY of the endings. Again, no matter how you play, finding Shaun is the PC's primary goal, and also irrespective of playstyle, whether you're more positive about the Wasteland or react to it with sadness and disgust, the Sole Survivor is definitely disorientated by it, feels a certain amount of dissociation, and (understandably) like an outsider. So assuming a baseline bit of morality is what would prevent them from [[spoiler: staying at the Institute for Shaun's sake]], given how much they really do love their son (no matter what you do or what dialogue you pick), I find it incredibly unconvincing that they'd drum up enough conviction to get riled up to the point of risking life and limb for synths, for the genocidal, quasi-fascist ideals of the new Brotherhood (which they would find pretty alienating anyway), or an abstract concept of "common good"...at least enough that it would outweigh the maternal/paternal love that got them that far. Not siding with [[spoiler: the Institute]] has the PC abstaining on what appears to be moral grounds, but in the interest of opposing them, you AT LEAST have to [[spoiler: kill your own son]] and kill loads of defenceless people (yes, some of them children also--even if you assume most of them evacuated in time), and even more likely, you will not only do that but commit a horrific act of [[spoiler: mass murder by blowing up an airship that ALSO is populated by children in addition to hundreds or even thousands of people]]. So the idea that it's a matter of "ethics" seems shaky at best. It's logical for the chaotic grey of the Railroad or someone who calls the Commonwealth home, but not so much for the PC. Regardless of what you choose, by the end of the game you at MINIMUM [[spoiler: are a mass murderer, a childkiller, and a terrorist. [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking And a lawyer.]]]] There's also a good chance you [[spoiler: blew up your own child.]] This would be less of a wallbanger if you had [[ButThouMust the choice to act with a bit more wisdom]] instead of going on a nuke em/kill em all campaign, but the real disconnect happens when the PC's biggest reaction to all of this is [[DullSurprise "Wow"]] or even satisfaction. There's no real narrative weight at all. And it's made even more bizarre by the fact all the other characters ignore that everything you've done you've done at great personal cost (and for no real reason), and even the LawfulGood/otherwise intelligent [=NPCs=] won't take issue with the idea of [[spoiler: destroying what might be some of the most advanced technology in the world]], and what's worse, will justify all your actions to you and even praise you as a hero the whole way through, even as you [[spoiler: blow a blimp full of kids out of the sky]] and into hell. I guess I just don't see how the undesirability of all of their options wouldn't just send the Survivor into stagnation. There doesn't seem to be any realistic incentive for them to care *that* much, at least not to the tune of [[spoiler: becoming as much of a monster as]] the people they're supposed to be fighting against.
** I'll be breaking up my answer again for readability.
** The discovery of Shaun is meant to be an emotionally devastating moment but the set-up is, essentially, foreshadowed by all of the Companions' stories if you take a moment to look at them. Cait is tormented by his past, Piper reinvented herself but lost all of her friends doing so as well as endangered her sister, Preston is suffering survivor's guilt, Nick Valentine is tormented by his human memories, Hancock was a HippieStoner who reinvented himself, Strong...okay strong doesn't fit but everyone else does. Actually, no wait, Strong wants to reinvent himself too. The story is about your past and present being in conflict. If you have been doing the Companion's stories, you're continually confronted with people who have suffered deep traumas and must either move on or become suicidal. The Sole Survivor's discovery [[spoiler: his entire quest was a ShaggyDogStory]] means that he must either choose to side with Father in order to reunite himself with his family for what little he can or [[spoiler: side against his flesh and blood]] because he has become something more than the father/husband he was before. A big symbolic thing is the Romance arc as your new husband(s)/wife or wives might be the only thing keeping you going. It also means there's a reason to side with the Institute when most players might be determined to kill them.
** Of course, there's an ironic element which is a blink and you'll miss it bit of FridgeHorror in that all generation three Synths are [[spoiler: cloned from Shaun's DNA which means that every single one of them is your grandchild. Which means that the Sole Survivor has an entire family of descendants to liberate/look after.]]
** In a very real sense, the game has the CentralTheme of being about, "Who do you define yourself as when you can't define yourself as that anymore?" You can't be a spouse, parent, or either of your Pre-War professions no more. There's no legal system and there's no United States. The Factions and Companion quests are about fulilling that hole in your life. While the writing isn't exactly Shakespeare (sorry Rex Goodman), a lot of the faction quests can mention things like your prior military experience to the Brotherhood of Steel and Minutemen. You can also continually motivate your Companions to accept your changes or to struggle to hold onto the past as fiercely as possible. It's symbolic by the fact Codsworth is your first new companion, a relic of a dead world, and your second is a tirelessly loyal friend in the new one (Dogmeat).
** Regarding [[spoiler: the morality of blowing up the Institute versus blowing up the Prydwen]], the ending dialogue invokes a sense of disgust and sadness no matter what happens because they actually had something behind "War never changes" this time around. The Brotherhood of Steel and Institute will not stop until one side is annihilated with the Railroad caught in the middle of both factions. Innocents will die in this war and in the end, neither side will probably learn a thing as humanity will continue to be made of good and evil people. It actually fits with the HappyEndingOverride of Fallout 3 too as the Lone Wanderer's attempts to be the messiah of the Wastelands turned out to be just the beginnings of the Brotherhood of Steel's anti-human genocide. To prevent war from devastating the world you have to devastate the world. You could stop playing but that's a choice to sit idly by and watch everyone die too.
** I mostly agree with you, though I'd have to point out that this isn't really so much a matter of plot inconsistency than of bad storytelling and game design, and thus might not really be what this page is about. After all, "go to sanctuary, sit down in Shaun's old room, get drunk and then quit the game" is also an option and would functionally simulate the feeling you described - it's just not as good as the other, less-logical ones that let you finish the game content. That being said, I think there are two main problems: \\
1) The player character is over-determined by the intro and the plot, and thus it's paradoxically ''harder'' to rationalize their actions. We already know they were a decorated war veteran/lawyer, living in a sickeningly sweet heterosexual relationship, in an all-American idyllic suburb that borders on parody, and having a child who they love very much and now have to save. That's a great deal more than, say, New Vegas' protagonist, whose pre-determined characterization was "carried stuff from A to B". When the Courier decided to join the [=NCR=] or whatever, you could find a hundred reasons to rationalize it, because their "character" was solely shaped by the game so far and your imagination. But by giving the Sole Survivor such a clear-cut motive that you can't shed, the second act falls extremely flat after the endgame of said motive has been fulfilled/failed (i.e. you now know where Shaun is). No matter what you do, it doesn't fit the prior characterization the game ''forced you to follow''. Which brings me to \\
2) The game lacks any nuances in it's progress. You have 4 possible endings, and while there are some minor considerations, they individually always play out the same. Pick Institute, you massacre the Railroad and blow up the [=BoS=]. Pick Railroad, you nuke the Institute instead. So at some point in the game you pick one of 4 unsatisfying options and just go through with it, and maybe then start a new game and pick another one. I am not saying being given no "perfect" option is bad - on the contrary, I quite like that. But the problem is that there is very little reason why you can't make things play out differently. This is especially glaring with the Institute. In 3 of 4 endings you nuke the most technologically advanced post-war facility that is known to exist. And that is after you have already infiltrated and invaded it. Really? Say you side with the Railroad and want to free Synths. There is no other way to reach this goal than to blow up an incredibly valuable and beneficial facility that you ''already functionally took control of''? Or deliver all the technology to the [=BoS=]. It would make them unstoppable in their crusade. Or do that, but usurp Maxson and take charge of both organizations yourself. Or, y'know, any other combination of factors that wouldn't boil down the game to "to choose your ending, now decide who to nuke" popping up in the second act.
** That's just it; the only reason given in-game for excusing the incredible dickery of the Institute (and the first act gives you plenty of exposure to it) is that you found your son. In some ways, you're a cryogenically-frozen Alois or Klara and you just found Adolf. For me, playing the game and doing a lot of exploration and questing before ever finding the Institute (and Bethesda knew most players would), I took a liking to the people of the Commonwealth, to the folks in Diamond City, Goodneighbor, and beyond. I worked with Danse and Rhys and Haylen in the Cambridge police station and heard Maxson out on the Prydwen. By the time I got to the Emerald City (so to speak), I had the entire Commonwealth's hopes and dreams riding on my progress. Had moved on from my dead wife (had romanced Cait by that point.) The Sole Survivor, with me at the controls, found a purpose in the new world. Told Piper it gave him hope, even. Then to listen to Father try and defend his group that had shamelessly caused so much harm? I was ready to kill him on the spot, but I played along only because shamelessly abusing his trust would advance the aims of the people I actually cared about (getting Li back for the Brotherhood, stealing a bunch of data, whole nine.) And when I [[spoiler: killed Paladin Danse because he was a synth and he told me he was proud of me for having the moral fortitude to do so]], I knew that my Sole Survivor found something far more valuable than he was looking for when he ditched that vault. The overall series' tagline may be "War never changes", but in turning his back on the Institute and becoming part of the Commonwealth (and the Brotherhood), another tagline was thrown into focus: "Welcome home.

[[/folder]]