Fallout 4

I had a long conversation with a friend of mine about synth "biology", and we came to the conclusion that the Institute is essentially constructing biologically human bodies using technology, then wrapping them around a robotic brain. A Gen 3 synth ought to be able to reproduce (we know sex is possible because we have Curie as an example), and since it has a human genome, its offspring would be fully human.

So the problem is inherently self-limiting. No new synth brains can be made without the manufacturing facility, and synths would either have human offspring or be sterile, meaning that the current generation is the only one that can ever possibly exist if the Institute is destroyed.

edited 1st Jun '16 12:53:27 PM by Fighteer

Are they even robot brains or are they organic brains with some bits in it?

Robot brains.

That would probably be the ambiguous "Synth Component" that you can harvest off dead Synths but is apparently undetectable by any and all measures aside from autopsy.

But yes, Gen 3 synth bodies seem to be functionally human on just about every level. I was surprised when Far Harbor had cannibals eat a synth and treat it like it was business as usual. If they even noticed they were eating a synth, they didn't say anything. So either they can interbreed with humans to create genetically human offspring or they can't sexually reproduce at all.

Either way, preserving the ability to create more Synths isn't much of a reason for me to not blow up the Institute.

edited 1st Jun '16 1:18:24 PM by TobiasDrake

Touche.

What I mean to say is, thanks to Far Harbor, I now understand firsthand how the Institute could've gotten as bad as they are (at least in their Kill and Replace methods, gonna need another DLC before I start sympathizing with their "Make a bunch of Not!Clones just so we have more janitors" methods). A few "For the greater good" here, a few "It had to be done there", and now you are also a callous sociopath. All because you made a few "tough choices" so you could do "the right thing".

Kudos.

edited 1st Jun '16 2:01:26 PM by Spirit

Presumably, Synths cannot reproduce. Synths getting pregnant would be a major hassle for the Institute (and could potentially make the already dumb argument that Synths aren't people even dumber, if such a thing is possible). In addition, Deacon did once say that he tried to get a Synth pregnant to no avail. So, presumably, Synths are infertile.

I never got that line of conversation from Deacon. Interesting information, though — it presents the potential for a synth screening by examining the production of gametes, or lack thereof.

Same problem Cylons have in BSG.

Wouldn't you also be able to tell if someone's a Synth, though, by giving them an MRI scan to check for a Synth component? Now, to be fair, this wouldn't be an option 90% of the time (where are you going to get an MRI machine in the wasteland?), but it would mean that there is a way to tell the difference.

While the synths are based off human DNA, they aren't human bodies - Synths are resistant to radiation, and generally stronger and more durable than humans are. Plus the fact that there's synths of various genders, races and phenotype shows that their DNA diverges greatly from Shaun. We're also shown that Synths bodies don't behave like human bodies (They cannot gain or lose weight). That implies Synth bodies don't metabolize the way human bodies do, and might make it impossible for an offspring to grow.

It's entirely possible that Synths can't reproduce because they have been so tampered with. I mean, consider how easy it is for something to be infertile IRL (look at Mules or Ligers).

Well according to dima (unreliable narrator aside) there apparently isn't any way to tell outside of an autopsy whether someone is a synth or not which means they are either human enough down to the DNA level or people suck at testing.

I'm personally in the camp that believes that the synth component is actually the only thing separating them from humans and that it is artificially imposed to limit them in key ways. We know gen3s are apparently incapable of giving up the institutes location so I'm guessing halting sperm/egg production wouldn't be so hard.

EDIT: Finally! Love me some spoiler warning.

edited 1st Jun '16 5:57:30 PM by thatguythere47

I caved. I couldn't wait for Mod Organizer any longer, so I installed NMM for Fallout 4 and a few other games. I'm probably going to have an extensive mod list by the time I'm finished with it. I'm don't intend to mod the other games too much though.

Loaded up a few mods on my X bone. My PC is just too weak sauce to run 4 reliably without making too many tweaks. The process is pretty easy actually. I picked up the unofficial patch, some bled texture mods and a few others I will detail later after I finish testing them out.

edited 1st Jun '16 6:41:04 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Tell us if it makes your Xbox melt through the floor or something.

So far it hasn't and the Modular Simonov PTRS-41 Anti-Tank Rifle is amusing if expensive. Legendary Effect - Swap and Create turns out to be pretty decently balanced requiring perks in some cases and special parts found off of legendary enemies. The rest are quality of life type mods like blood textures and the unofficial patch, and ammo crafting.

edited 2nd Jun '16 2:45:24 AM by TuefelHundenIV

The Storyteller's tale begins anew.

I'm loving the "junk has no weight" mod.

Any one seen an ammo has weight mod for non-survival yet?

Because that is the best part about survival to me.

Mark: That is so going on my list.

Tuef: to say that I'm taking everything that isn't nailed down is an understatement.

Well I take that back it will depend on how much room I have left after finding all the little mods and things I wanted to fix like the map with roads and things like that.

Once I am done modding up my game I will do some testing to see how the batches of mods hold together.

I am noticing one thing that is notable with mods. The weapons packs are quite large. The Ptrs and the Modern Weapons packs alone are quite big. However the quality of life stuff, patches, and bug fixes are all pretty small. So you won't likely be loading up on lots of weapon mods anytime time soon unless they find a way to bring down the file sizes.

edited 2nd Jun '16 5:04:12 PM by TuefelHundenIV

https://community.bethesda.net/thread/21540

An updated version of Far Harbor is available for PS 4 owners. Steps are in the link.

So basically make sure Fallout 4 isn't running and redownload the DLC. Can do.

The Modern Weapons mod was just removed from Bethesda.net and Nexus, due to the use of stolen assets from other games in making the mod.

Aw, I was looking forward to that one.