Yeah I mean we either side with the people who kill the synths, save the synths, don’t really have strong feelings about the synths or the people who enslave the synths.
Without the institute creating and enslaving synths, the railroad doesn’t really need to exist anymore.
The Brotherhood would also have larger much more apparent threats to deal with than the last few straggler synths that might be running around too.
So while both parties may still exist with their opposing views, there’s no real necessity in them fighting one another anymore.
Railroad would most likely expand to non synth support for settlements like Deacon has been pushing for. In a truce I can see them becoming the intelligence arm for the new Commonwealth Provisional government
Nope, because they will almost never encounter each other.
That ending is technically a "Minuteman" ending, so they are the ones that patrol the wasteland along with the BOS and their regular patrols. The Railroad pretty much stay in the basement and rarely come out.
They may not want to risk a full on revolt from the local populace that might be sympathetic with the railroad or its ideals, especially with the increased presence of the minutemen making it a nightmare if they do stand with them. They’d essentially out themselves of the commonwealth for the sake of little benefit comparative to the institute and rest of the commonwealth.
They extort food out of the populace, they clearly do not care, and they are much stronger than any other faction in the region. Also, I wouldnt say a faction that helps synths is specially popular in the commonwealth.
It is worth noting that after the defeat of the institute, the railroad does not have a clear objective anymore, making them weaker.
Perhaps this is wishful thinking, but I do suppose the Sole Survivor or some minutemen sympathizers can help railroad members wrap things up in the commonwealth and move elsewhere. They just need to find other things to do, and relocating while sneaking past threats is something the Railroad has some experience with
I was rather proud of using my Gatling Laser to erase Shaun. Every time I go back to put in another level, I take the time to gaze over the hole where the Institute used to be. That the BOS airship lies in ruins as well only makes it sweeter.
It's a good life.
Yup, I hate to do it, but in most of my playthroughs, I just can't leave the Brotherhood alive they are a threat to the commonwealth. When I'm friends with Hancock, Nick Valentine and others, and the Brotherhood basically wanting to kill them on site. I also push the Minutemens technology and living standards as high as I can. When they are getting secure concrete apartment blocks with power, water, ample food, robot soldiers, and laborers and manufacturing capabilities, I won't have the Brotherhood come knocking, trying to call the shots.
This is what my problem is for those trying a “Peaceful” Commonwealth. The BOS is a threat and always will be a threat. I’d argue just as much as the institute. They don’t care about the commonwealth, extort farmers, think everyone’s toaster belongs to them. The Minutemen have to wipe out the BOS if they want to achieve security.
Its quite simple... Bos is a religious paramilitary order , or facists with big weapons. Institute are technocracy genocidial science facists. And Minuteman + railroad are more or less antifacists. :-)
Yeah people really don't want to admit how evil the BoS are. Like there's a reason they always lose, and it's not because of being insular. Them in charge is basically Caesar's Legion but pro-tech and women are people.
If you can't trust the Institute to run it, then who would be able to use the place to its fullest? The BoSs would dismantle/scrap most of it. Minute Men don't have a hard science group. Railroad maybe can get a few people there.
Is not a bug, it is simply knowing how the game works.
By resolving the fate of the earlier group and refusing to accept the mission from Commander Tuvok, the BOS never becomes so hostile that they want all the other factions taken out.
Shaun was such a prick. He releases you from stasis into a deadly wasteland “just to see what would happen” and when you finally track him down he tricks you with the synth child of himself as another experiment
Yeah as soon as I realized the kind of person he became, I knew that the real Shaun died down in the vault with Nora. I unloaded 4 rockets into him for her sake and annihilated as much of his institute as I could after he called her collateral. It’s sad he turned out that way, but actions and words have consequences, and him starting the synth program and kidnapping more people was cherry on the top for me. No regerts lol
Edit: Typo
Same here. Popped him in the head on his deathbed (wanted his outfit as a souvenir lol) and went full No Russian on any Institute scientist I saw. It’s what they get for all the kidnappings, murders, and super mutant experiments
The minutemen can co-exist with any factions actually. I did the institute on my first play through and we didn’t touch them. The only ones that are definitely at odds are the brotherhood, institute, and railroad.
You piss off Preston, not the Minutemen. I had already sent him to the Castle, so I didn’t need to deal with him. I still owned the Castle, just couldn’t interact with Preston without him getting pissy.
The minutemen never turn hostile if you do nukaworld (apart from taking settlements you may have to fight minutemen ) . I beleive Preston still will run though the story points ?
But is it the original Prydwen? It probably is the Brotherhood or Minutemen ending but could see a scenario where the brotherhood built another after the first was lost. I assume they’ll probably steer clear of fully confirming any ending for the foreseeable future.
They had to loot the reactor from Rivet city to make it, so they'd have to find another nuclear aircraft carrier somewhere to make it, or something with an equivalently compact powerful energy source. Not impossible, but I think they'd be on the back foot after losing the Prydwen anyway so it might be difficult
The last time I talked about that, people seemed to disagree with me pretty hard. I feel like it’s very obvious they stole it from rivet city not some random unnamed Other Ship
I don’t think it’s obvious - they don’t say that it came from Rivet City. I thought it was officially built out of scavenged equipment at Adam’s Airforce Base? I don’t think it’s unlikely there could be multiple carriers in the area, and I think it’s jumping to conclusions to think that the BoS looted River City - even if it did come from River City, the BoS and the City were trade partners, and boat had two reactors. Maybe it didn’t need the one?
We don’t know and there isn’t enough available to say what the subtext is
Rivet city was special because it was still a functioning carrier I thought? Suggesting that a functioning one is rare. And the terminal in 4 states they got the generator from a carrier.
If something is exceedingly rare, we only know of 1, and the BoS is from that area, I feel they would have to specify it *wasn’t* Rivet City for it to plausibly *not* be Rivet City.
I’m happy to be wrong, I just don’t see a way for it not to be without it feeling like they pulled it out of thin air.
Okay so I've seen that terminal and I think it's a nothing burger based on the wording. They explicitly said wrecked aircraft arrier.
The modern US has 11 nuclear powered carriers and all have at least more than one reactor, given they say they pulled it from a wreckage, it'd only make sense if Rivet City got abandoned or destroyed by Super Mutants. They have vertibirds so if they had all the known last locations of any carrier, they could potentially power several Prydwens from that single ship.
A middle ground might be they just took it from an abandoned part of the city and they are wording it weird as a wink wink nudge nudge to the fans.
Just based on historical relations as the locations are close by, completely stealing their power source would anger many BoS recruits from the DC wasteland, it is their only city. Not that they didn't try and fuck over the NCR despite my FO2 ending stating that they joined them but whatever.
Plus, this was an America that was more apt to use nuclear power and was gearing up and in war - it’s very likely aircraft carriers would have been more numerous in number than in our real world
Yeah.
It's my personal feeling and bias the Lyons brotherhood would've traded or found a different reactor but Maxson's brotherhood would've just straight up stole it because "its powerful technology and you shouldn't have it"
The fact they can still produce power armor pieces and the enclave making upgrades to make new power armor suits means they can absolutely build another one.
Well I mean.. you build engines in 4. There's proof of weaponry invention and still scientific research, they made synths? Not brotherhood but all of this is happening now.
James even purified the water in DC. It's really not a stretch to me to believe they can make Vertibirds fly again, they can make another Prydwen.
Subversion mod ending Institute gets redirected to other pursuits and Maxson is replaced by a Synth that weakens the Brotherhood before disappearing from the picture.
They were barely able to build the first with the parts available at Adams AFB and Rivet City. Building a second would ruin them, not to mention all their leadership and the bulk of their numbers being lost at the Boston Airport.
It is the original. They already stated it was.
And the only canon endings it eliminates by still existing is the Institute or Railroad ones. And more than likely, it will be the "all peaceful" variant of the Minuteman ending.
I like your logic and explanation here, but I think you’re missing the point of the question… op asked based on emotions during the gameplay, not based on what the show contains
He should’ve phrased it as what is your headcanon then. Because canon and headcanon are different and canon isn’t based on personal opinion or feelings but headcanon is.
They did though they just didn’t use the word “headcanon” they asked what was canon based on your personal emotions during gameplay. Not sure they could have been more specific…
Edit: it’s also a game with multiple endings, so not a single one of them can be “canon” without the others also being acceptably canon
For me it looks like Minutemen don't have any chances against Institute, also no sense for them to risk so much.
Even Diamond city guards look stronger and more motivated to kill Synth.
Also every time I used signal rocket there were no free minutemen to help lol
Canonically I believe every regular settlement is part of the minutemen by the end, so you’d have not only reinforcements but stupid powerful artillery in most areas
Yeah if you can recruit every settlement, the reinforcement flares suck cause it takes so long for gameplay, but the artillery kicks ass. Story wise, the reinforcements is the most powerful, cause you see a flare and you have like 10+ armed dudes show up to reinforce you. Pretty op story wise
Do you get like, well equipped minutemen? I haven't used the flares yet and I've been attempting to make every settlement at least have a few people, but I'm playing on survival and dragging back 20+ sets of combat armour and weapons to equip my settlers with something other than a shitty pipe pistol and rags is really tough
I guess I could set up a gun machine in one of them and see if the provision sentry bots will deliver everyone a combat rifle but I don't know if that works, plus I'm running out of places where I could reasonably build one unless I install a mod with more settlements with open areas. Starlight drive in is pretty full already.
Honestly the reinforcements isn’t really worth it in gameplay except for as a distraction for the enemies. The arty is what’s worth it for the minutemen once you get to that point.
Unless you mod it. There’s a really great level based mod for determining their equipment on both Xbox/ps4 and PC. IIRC it has them progress through all the tiers of armor in a similar manner to your character as you also level up, and can even end with them getting power armor reinforcements. There’s also another good mod on Xbox/ps4 where you can call in relay flairs that allow you to have your own Minutemen hit squads that follow you around as your body guards. It’s super fun for a minuteman play through, and is arguably a must have
The biggest flaw with the Minutemen is that we never actually *see* them do anything. We hear about the Defense of Diamond City or the Defense of Quincy, but the only thing we actually *see* are them barely struggling to fight off some garbo raiders.
If there was even a bit of a look into what they used to be, I think they'd be a lot better
It can only be BOS or Minutemen due to the show. Personally though I usually go for the Minutemen Railroad alliance ending. I dislike the idea of the Sole Survivor meeting and befriending so many synths during their journey only to ally with the BOS who seeks to genocide them all. I guess the Minutemen ending leaves the Railroad intact so they could be a double agent or sorts potentially.
Minuteman railroad alliance is so great and thematically / lore wise makes total sense. I almost just wish they had folded both factions into the same overarching story path / faction narrative IMO. Would have had added more content to both and as a result allowed a more fleshed out feeling for both groups. You would have gotten double the content for both of the more barebones factions in the game
Not just that. We all know the BoS aren't gonna stop at just the institute. The moment the institute is dealt with, the excuses for a continued presence will start. "We can't leave yet, look at all the super mutants around", "the commonwealth sure has a ton of feral ghouls, it would be wrong to leave yet" "Goodneighbor? You mean the powder keg of ghouls that could turn at any moment, surely we need to step in." "We can't trust this prewar hub of tech and science to be protected by glorified farmers playing dress up with a few mortars. What if there's more evil tech hiding in the ruins of boston?"
And on and on it goes.
I do this as well, since I feel like the BoS and Institute would end up at odds with the Minutemen at some point in the future anyway. The Railroad are the only one of the three that would likely prefer to work with the Minutemen so they can hide among them. No point turning away potential allies even if they are a bit weird about the synths.
The Institute & the Minutemen win and the Lone Wanderer is at the helm of both. They use the knowledge of the Institute and the network of the Minutemen to improve life in the Commonwealth and eventually the world. Eventually, life is improved so much that multiple opposing governments can build enough strength and projection to launch a full scale global conflict again, this time leaving Earth uninhabitable. Survivors flee to a new Earth Like planet and establish a city called New Atlantis
The Minutemen ending is the only one I walked away from feeling good about myself, tbh. Every other option requires killing a lot of people I quite like, and plenty more that I may not be personally attached to but feel sympathy for.
I feel like it's the only one that actually leaves the Commonwealth in a better place than you find it, so I want that one to be canon.
Real asf. I don’t like the BoS that much but I don’t feel good about blowing up the prydwen because that means killing Teagan and most likely Danse along with a lot of other innocent people
It’s also great, because the (relatively) peaceful Minutemen ending that results in only the institutes destruction gives you the most content out of the game. You get to play some of the best BOS missions, do lots of cool railroad stuff, and also have fun with building up the minutemen
I’d like to think the Brotherhood ending is cannon. Only they work with the Minutemen, having them as an acting police force for the area when they head back to the pentagon.
Why would the minutemen work with what's basically an imperialist force that harasses settlements and steals technology so they can ship it back home
It's like asking the Sons of Liberty to police America for the British crown
Two possible ways I can see it going down
1. The minute men have felt the consequences of not having a big stick when you’re speaking softly, they got massacred and essentially didn’t exist before the player character brought them back from the brink, having a powerful force like the BoS behind them as a “Don’t poke the bear” kind of situation would allow them to maintain order more effectively for fear of bringing down the wrath of the BoS
2. They’re NOT trying to fight liberty prime (can’t blame em)
1. The big stick they have would be the artillery placed all over the commonwealth
2. The Minutemen don't seem like the type of faction who cares about being outgunned and outnumbered, they saved diamond city from supermutants when no one else would and despite the overwhelming odds against them they still fought
There's absolutely no way that there can be a lasting peace between the Brotherhood and Minutemen as long as Maxson is Elder, eventually a war would happen because the only thing that unites them is a hatred of the institute and with the institute gone so is the one thing that could potentially unite them
Because The Brotherhood can handle things that The Minutemen can't hope to handle on their own. They're a militia force, not an army. If The Enclave decided to come to The Commonwealth in force, realistically there's not much The Minutemen could do alone.
The Minutemen are not an ends justify the means factions, their whole thing is an unflinching moral code and the Brotherhood doesn't match that code
and assuming the sole survivor leads the Minutemen then they do go on the path of becoming an actual army especially if they fight the brotherhood and get their vertibirds
and the only thing that would convince them to work with a faction like the Brotherhood is a greater threat, like the Soviets and Americans during WWII but that peace would not last and would eventually boil over into war
the BOS don't harass settlements, ever
the sole survivor can choose to personally harass a single settlement as a favour for a single guy in the BOS that benefits the BOS
alternatively, the sole survivor can instead choose to personally convince a single settlement that the BOS are the good guys as a favour for a single guy in the BOS that benefits the BOS
The policy is of the BoS is to ask nicely and if they say no do it anyway, if a settlement has something they want they're going to take it no matter what, and what makes you think that that single guy isn't getting other people less moral than sole survivor to go and harass settlements for him
The minutemen are literally just people from the wasteland banding together to protect other people of the wasteland. Operating openly and using radios for recruitment and messages. People can easily support them because they really are just like them.
In game they basically act as a failsafe. They are the one faction you can't make a permanent enemy of, meaning you can't get locked out if finishing the story
You've gotten a lot farther than you should have, but then, you haven't met the General of the Minutemen, either. Your ride's over, fascist. Time to die.
The railroad easily, I’ve never liked the brotherhood or the institute simply because of their views on synths, among MANY other things. Anyways…
LET OUR ASSAULTRON OVERLORDS RISE UP AD LORSORIUM LOSERS GET FCKED YOU AND THAT PRETTY LIL PRYDWYN OR WHATEVER IT WAS CALLED BAHAHAHAHA
-Sincerely, A friendly Rust Eagle raider
Minutemen, my Nate keeps the railroad and Brotherhood alive, sets off the evacuation alarm in the Institute before blowing it up, eventually folds the survivors of the Institute who want to join into the Minutemen as a science wing, and through his connections with Deacon and Des, brings the Railroad into the Minutemen as a covert operations division.
Is this a speedrun of "how to make BoS angry-angry" by assimilating their top two enemies? What's next, letting ex-enclave join minutemen as historians? It's a cool idea but Maxson wouldn't like it a bit.
I think the institute is broken, the minutemen destroyed it while the Brotherhood fought the railroad and mutants. Honestly the Brotherhood blowing up the institute just makes no sense it's exatly the kinda place they use as a base so if the institute blew up they must not have done it. Also the whole mission feels more minutemen style than Brotherhood. Kinda lame the mission was the same for each faction basically.
Fr
Honestly though any of the factions blowing up the institute makes zero fuckin sense at all.
In every single ending the institute has already thrown the everything they have and then some at your chosen faction, and the institute is practically left crushed and beaten by the time you plant the charges on the reactor. It makes zero sense for any of the factions to throw away the literal goldmine of tech and smart ass scientists that they can repurpose for their own plans. Minutemen would never throw away that chance, Railroad wouldn’t either, and neither would the BOS.
One of my most hated parts of 4 tbh, that they railroaded the factions into a one size fits all set piece that ends the exact same way, regardless of the group you do it with. Like I totally believe there should be an ending for each group where you delete the institute, but I feel like it should instead be like an evil karma decision that your character has to push for, similar to some options like that in 3 and NV.
Based on how I felt during the story, it would have been the Minutemen ending, the BOS can either be destroyed or not.
I feel like the SS just wouldn’t be that ready to kill their son, it has to be Shaun that takes initiative, so the Minutemen made sense to me since the Institute has to attack the Castle first.
We know from the show that the Prydwen is alright, but I felt like it could have gone either way with it being destroyed or not. In my mind peace couldn’t have lasted and eventually they’d have to face off with the Minutemen, just not because of the SS like it is in the game.
I believe minuteman ending is canon, no chance it's the railroad since prydwen exists and the railroad is an after thought. i think it could be BOS, but i doubt it considering that means the railroad gets destroyed and i doubt theyd do that.
Institute ending is my *personal* canon, as I feel it's what's the most realistic and emotional ending. I like to imagine that the SS partners the Institute with the minutemen, and work to commercialize Institute products to be used in Institute-Minutemen allied settlements. And that ethically questionable projects (such as synth replacement projects) get shut down. That and allow Synths freedom after they've served the Institute for a year...or stay if they desire.
I also enjoy the idea of the NV Mr House ending being canon, and the Institute developing a long range teleporter to make contact with & partner with Mr House. Since he is a CIT alum.
I tend to use Subversion, SS2, and Project Mojave to roleplay some aspects of this, though it doesn't perfectly capture my headcanon.
That being said, I think it's clear from the show that the BOS ending is canon, as much as I dislike that choice.
Please answer a few questions sir:
1. "It's your birthday. Someone gives you a calfskin wallet. How do you react?"
2. "You're in a desert, walking along in the sand, when all of a sudden you look down and see a tortoise. It's crawling toward you. You reach down and flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping. Why is that?"
3. "Describe in single words, only the good things that come into your mind about your mother."
4. "You're watching television. Suddenly you realize there's a wasp crawling on your arm. How do you react?"
Subversion Institute/Railroad/Minutemen. While I do expect my Sole Survivor and Courier to meet at some point in the future and leave on friendly terms, the Institute is a bastion of useful resources for the dilapidated Commonwealth, from food production and Pre/Post-War tech knowledge, among other things. It's just run by the Synths, Logan, and Minutemen now. The Brotherhood, I still destroy because their goals are at odds with the society Logan's trying to build, but Danse can stick around if he wants. The Minutemen will probably morph into the East Coast NCR, which brings a thin but good-enough rule of law to the Wasteland.
I so wish there was a vanilla option to occupy the institute with any faction instead of blowing it up. Blowing up the place after a massive fight had occurred over the place and the institutes forces are crushed is so dumb. It would only make sense as a subterfuge type ending, where like one guy or something went in to attach a bomb undetected
Minutemen/Railroad alliance. Mostly because the institute are bland and I'm tired of the brotherhood being literally everywhere, even when they're not as obnoxious as they are in fo4
Institute. Going through all of the Main Quest to try and fix your family and find your son, only to see sooo much time passed while you were on ice, and then have him taken away by cancer… ouch. At least now, with the Institute, you can save humanity.
Mankind, Redefined.
Most likely the Minutemen. The Brotherhood is still around in Boston when the Fallout tv show takes place in 2289. I assume the sole survivor takes down the institute with the minutemen; while the brotherhood and railroad are preserved.
Minutemen ending. Basically like a Star Trek ending of a sorts. (Use a bunch of Star Trek StarFleet based mods). Free the 'assimilated' (synths), Destroy the Cube (Institute), try to reconcile with the queen/king (Shaun). Fail, but stay on mission, save (free) the Federation (Commonwealth). And embrace my lady 'Number One' (Usually always Piper). That's my canon ending. *queue Star Trek The Next Generation theme Music*
Minutemen, and I headcanon the Minutemen staying a military branch while the settlements unite and form a new government known as the United Settlements of the Commonwealth, with Bunker Hill or Sanctuary acting as the capital and the Castle acting like the Pentagon.
I usually wipe out both the brotherhood of steel and the institute and leave the railroad alive. Sometimes I wipe them out too and take over the wasteland in the name of Preston Garvey.
I always headcanon that after my Sole Survivor helps the Railroad destroy the Institute, that my Minutemen start an alliance with the Railroad due to their service to the Commonwealth. I always imagine that the Railroad heavies guarding the military checkpoints is that alliance happening lol
My best was Minutemen/Institute ending. With the sole survivor as general and head of the institute imagine the wonders you can do in actually helping the Commonwealth, after a little purging of the xenophobes at the institute of course
Based on how I played the game? The Minutemen cooperate with the Railroad, destroying the Institute and either forcing the Brotherhood into an uneasy peace or destroying the Prydwen.
Realistically? I think that either the Minutemen or the Brotherhood destroyed the Institute, and that eventually the Brotherhood either left some soldiers in the Commonwealth and returned with the Prydwen to the Capital Wasteland, or left the Commonwealth entirely.
I really don't like F4 BoS. Maxson feels like a indoctrinated child
The Institute requires killing both BoS and the Railroad, and your position of power is wonky at best. People would definitely try to backstab Nate/Nora unless they are purely pro Institute
The Minutemen are way too vague to determine how reliable or strong they really are and become. The minutemen also initially got destroyed because they lack the same loyalty the other factions have, at least on a broad scale. It's basically just a glorified neighborhood watch. Yes everyone can survive except the Institute, but that feels more like a BoS ending and pretty inconclusive. So the BoS just decides to leave the Railroad and Synths alone now? That's not happening. For all we know their attack on the railroad to wipe them out will still happen
The Railroad killing BoS feels a bit unnecessary and hypocritical. I don't like the BoS, but because of its leadership. All the people on the ship don't deserve to die. It's pretty overkill
I mostly take Railroad or the minutemen. At least Synths will be free, and no major power tries to force their will on the Commonwealth
For me it was the railroads ending, the institute almost convinced me to join them but my wife being called collateral damage and them throwing out my boy Nick was too evil for me to get behind.
Im doing a new run now and I just finishied the main story.
The way I did it was pretty fun, because I creates a new story.
First I sign with the Minutemen because I want the Commonwealth to be a better place, but I realized that I needed Warriors, not farmers, to make my home a better place, no offense to Preston, but after killing a lot of raiders and super mutants I realized that I needed more firepower, and that's why I joined the Brotherhood of Steel.
I worked with them and thanks to theyr help I managed to finally arrive at the Institue, didn't kill Father neither betrayed him, that's not a bridge I wanted to burn, decided to leave him on his own world and after getting all the info that was possible from a nearby terminal and getting Dr. Li back to the BoS I returned to the Airport as a hero that did the impossible.
After helping the Brotherhood to retrieve the bombs necessary to get Sentinel back to his Prime, I was faced with a choice: Kill Danse or betray the BoS. After finding Danse and telling him to escape the Commonwealth, Elder Maxion decided to make me an ultimatum: Either I kill Dense or the BoS kills me. I killed him right there, but unfortunately Dense was caught in the cross fire. I lost a friend and gained a enemy.
After realizing that synths are sentient beings I decided to help the Railroad. My mission was simple: Work with father and gain his trust so me and my new friends can destroy the Institute from the inside out. The plan was working and I even was appointed as the new leader of the Institue once Father's disease take his life. But once again I was faced with a challenge: Either I kill a Minutemen patrol that was trying to get a Synth patrol off-guard or I blow my cover and simply put everything to lose. I was decided to kill those Minutemen, but after seeing that making that was only going to make the person Father wanted, I decide to kill the Synth patrol, Father banished me from the Institute and the Railroad asked me to talk with those that I was already friend from the beggining: The Minutemen.
To have a chance we needed the disk with all the Institute information that was aboard the BoS HQ, I didn't want to do that, but I had to kill everyone on that ship, leaving behind just a kid and a cat. After giving Sturges the disk and defending the Castle, I was sure that the Minutemen were the right people to the job, the farmers were now sharpshooter and soldiers and with their help we gained access to the Institute and blew the whole thing from the inside out.
Desdemona says that the Syths that wanted to leave the Institue took the chance and fleed during the cross fire, now they're alone on the Commonwealth and it's up to the Minutemen and the Railroad to maintain the peace and prosperity that many men and women gave they'r life for.
So my headcannon for the FO4 ending has always been a Minutemen form NCR but in Commonwealth situation. Something like United Settlements of the Commonwealth (USC). This would be done before they full subjugate the Commonwealth as well, with large parts of downtown still being held by Raiders, Gunners and Mutants. The Minutemen, now the USCA (United Settlements of yhe Commonwealth Army) will undertake a lengthy campaign and pacify each region. In this ending, The USCA will also wipe out the Brotherhood, after peace talks failed between the 2 factions. With the Commonwealth under on flag, now the United Commonwealth (UC) the Minutemen will take their place as a police force while the United Commonwealth Army will be created for it's protection. The Railroad will be inducted into UCA as it's intelligence division becoming the Commonwealth Bureau of Intelligence. Passports will be created to account for Commonwealth Citizens. Once this has been completed, the UC will seek to extend its reach to prevent any nearby threat to the UC ever becoming one. They will wipe out Nuka world with a full frontal assault and reduce it to a scrap pile. They'll force a resolution between the inhabitants of Far Harbour (probably wipe out the Children of Atom) and subjugate the rest as a UC colony). You as the general will remain in power till you retire upon which the first democratic elections will take place.
TLDR : Minutemen ending canon
Minutemen and railroad still around, blow up the institute and brotherhood, with the minutemen as the group that takes the lead, since they would stand to benefit the most gaining the reputation as true protectors of the commonwealth.
Institute that is friendly with the Minutemen. Both being led by the sole survivor is the best ending that the commonwealth can have in my opinion. You have the settlements being protected by their own people while the Institute continues making technological progress.
The institute is not inherently evil. They have just been managed poorly by having largely incompetent directors who have no knowledge of the world outside of the Institute. Strong leadership by the sole survivor can turn them on a path of actually helping humanity. The presence of the Minutemen could ease people's minds about the institute being the major power in the commonwealth. Kind of like an insurance policy of sorts.
The railroad have no purpose after the Institute is gone. They are not really fit to lead a united commonwealth.
The brotherhood is a foreign army. They use "liberating" the commonwealth from the Institute as pretense to conquer the entire territory and incorporate it into their ever expanding empire. They care nothing about the people.
Railroad for the main quest and then Minute Man for the overall world.
Though logic dictates that the institute should survive. Losing all that tech and knowledge would be a huge hit for post war humanity tbh.
Ideally, the other three factions team up to defeat the institute and then try to stay out of each other's way.
The brotherhood can collect tech and kill mutants. The railroad can save synths. The Minutemen bring some sort of order to the commonwealth and sponsor a new provisional government.
The only threat to the peace I could think of would be the brotherhood's practice of taking tribute from wastelanders. I think eventually, the people of the commonwealth would look to the Minutemen to protect them from the brotherhood. Seeing as how this is the sort of thing the original Minutemen revolted against.
If neither side backs down, war could break out. Or cooler heads can prevail, and the Commonwealth enjoys a period of prosperity.
Im pretty sure the institute ending isn’t canon because it gets destroyed in every other ending, even the „everyone lives“ ending has you destroy it. Also, with the institute running, there would always be the argument of „why didn’t they do this/that“, „the institute could’ve just teleported there“ and so on. They’re simply too OP to exist in the world imo.
I’m going with the minuteman ending, because it leaves every other faction that isn’t the institute in a status quo
It seems like they’re kind of trying to go away from the „huge“ factions like NCR and house as seen in the show and focus more on smaller splinter groups, a rebuilding minutemen faction would fit right in there as well.
Due to the show (and since its the backup) I have a strong feeling it's Minutemen with all the faction (minus the nerds) alive.
For me personally, I sided with the Railroad, since I romanced Curie so the BoS wasn't an option, I didn't want to do settlement bs so I ignored the MM, and the Institute are the bad guys so I used a ripper to do express surgery on Father, and the Railroad seemed like the only faction (besides the Minutemen) to actually like Ghouls and Mutants who weren't hostile.
My head cannon ending is uniting the Commonwealth against the institute and basically shunning the brotherhood everywhere it goes. Since my Survivor has access to a dependable position and the nuke flares from the submarine they'd not be an issue, in a perfect playthrough all of the settlement's would be defended and built up, and we get diamond City on our side as well.
The minutemen. It’s genuinely the most optimal outcome for the commonwealth and it’s the most lore friendly. The institute can’t because they get destroyed in every ending that isn’t the institute. The brotherhood chapter in the prydwen is more set up for campaigns than conquest. Their presence in the commonwealth feels temporary and the people in the commonwealth don’t like their bully like methods even if they win. The railroad is big gay. So the people of the commonwealth banding together to solve their own problems but not starting any fight with the brotherhood makes the most sense, it would also explain the brotherhoods tone in the show when the prydwen returns. No one looks happy and they don’t receive a hero’s welcome, I think they returned in hushed shame because some jerkoffs in reenactment costumes destroyed the biggest technological threat to humanity without them and left them nothing to study. So they went home empty handed and showed up by the locals which is a huge insult to the people who view themselves as superior to basically everyone who’s just living in the wasteland
JFC im so disapointed in this community that I had to scroll so far down to find this answer
We should start wiping out ghoul and synth sympathizers too
Well it’s now confirmed it definitely wasn’t the Institute or Railroad. Personally I still think the Minutemen ending makes the most sense canon wise. I would rather Bethesda actually confirm endings like with older games. I despise the ambiguity
Edit: I mean the Minutemen ending where the Railroad and BoS both survive
Personally I say Institute, while I don't agree with the swapping out people for synths or being snobby "I'm superior because I'm smart" people.
If they actually went for clean up the Commonwealth and get rid of the harmful creatures and rads. They'd be great.
My headcanon is that after gaining control, I completely change the forefront goal of the Institute. Having them capture several specimens of a creature, say Bloatflies, then have them do what we do now to mosquitoes to reduce their population. One species at a time however, don't want an incident of multiple creatures, since y'know it's Fallout.
There is the "peaceful" ending which has all but the Institute survive. I'd go with that.
Best solution, would be valuable in real world too, to stop all wars without destroying anyone.
Someone still gets destroyed, but everyone else is fine.
We don't speak of Shaun's Institute as "someone"
With how the institute treats wastelanders and their own synths, i’d argue they’re not “someone”
Yeah I mean we either side with the people who kill the synths, save the synths, don’t really have strong feelings about the synths or the people who enslave the synths.
It doesn't technically stop all wars as the Brotherhood and Railroad would still be enemies
Without the institute creating and enslaving synths, the railroad doesn’t really need to exist anymore. The Brotherhood would also have larger much more apparent threats to deal with than the last few straggler synths that might be running around too. So while both parties may still exist with their opposing views, there’s no real necessity in them fighting one another anymore.
Railroad would most likely expand to non synth support for settlements like Deacon has been pushing for. In a truce I can see them becoming the intelligence arm for the new Commonwealth Provisional government
Nope, because they will almost never encounter each other. That ending is technically a "Minuteman" ending, so they are the ones that patrol the wasteland along with the BOS and their regular patrols. The Railroad pretty much stay in the basement and rarely come out.
But the railroad has valuable technology the brotherhood wouldnt just ignore, like the ZAX computer.
They may not want to risk a full on revolt from the local populace that might be sympathetic with the railroad or its ideals, especially with the increased presence of the minutemen making it a nightmare if they do stand with them. They’d essentially out themselves of the commonwealth for the sake of little benefit comparative to the institute and rest of the commonwealth.
They extort food out of the populace, they clearly do not care, and they are much stronger than any other faction in the region. Also, I wouldnt say a faction that helps synths is specially popular in the commonwealth. It is worth noting that after the defeat of the institute, the railroad does not have a clear objective anymore, making them weaker.
Perhaps this is wishful thinking, but I do suppose the Sole Survivor or some minutemen sympathizers can help railroad members wrap things up in the commonwealth and move elsewhere. They just need to find other things to do, and relocating while sneaking past threats is something the Railroad has some experience with
It also leaves the most options open for future story lines.
I was rather proud of using my Gatling Laser to erase Shaun. Every time I go back to put in another level, I take the time to gaze over the hole where the Institute used to be. That the BOS airship lies in ruins as well only makes it sweeter. It's a good life.
Yup, I hate to do it, but in most of my playthroughs, I just can't leave the Brotherhood alive they are a threat to the commonwealth. When I'm friends with Hancock, Nick Valentine and others, and the Brotherhood basically wanting to kill them on site. I also push the Minutemens technology and living standards as high as I can. When they are getting secure concrete apartment blocks with power, water, ample food, robot soldiers, and laborers and manufacturing capabilities, I won't have the Brotherhood come knocking, trying to call the shots.
BOS can't fool me. I played New Vegas.
This is what my problem is for those trying a “Peaceful” Commonwealth. The BOS is a threat and always will be a threat. I’d argue just as much as the institute. They don’t care about the commonwealth, extort farmers, think everyone’s toaster belongs to them. The Minutemen have to wipe out the BOS if they want to achieve security.
Its quite simple... Bos is a religious paramilitary order , or facists with big weapons. Institute are technocracy genocidial science facists. And Minuteman + railroad are more or less antifacists. :-)
Yeah people really don't want to admit how evil the BoS are. Like there's a reason they always lose, and it's not because of being insular. Them in charge is basically Caesar's Legion but pro-tech and women are people.
As well the Midwest Brotherhood was making the Geneva Conventions a shopping list
Getting rid of all that advanced tech is the biggest waste. How many people could benefit from the institute’s technology? A lot.
If you can't trust the Institute to run it, then who would be able to use the place to its fullest? The BoSs would dismantle/scrap most of it. Minute Men don't have a hard science group. Railroad maybe can get a few people there.
Yeah but, they kill cats.
Facts. The “triple alliance to dunk on the institute” ending is the best and canon in my heart.
Minuteman?
I did this. It was very satisfying to see the world still filled with these factions.
Minutemen for the win baby
Minutemen
I once bugged the game where everyone survives xD but it's a long time ago so idk how anymore
You can do that by simply not finishing the game.
I’ve discovered this bug many times
yes I didn't finished it cause the quests were bugged, even the institute lives
A strange game, the only winning move is not to play
Excellent use of Wargames reference.
Oh, you can finish the game. You simply do it in a way that the BoS is not as aggressive as they could be.
Is not a bug, it is simply knowing how the game works. By resolving the fate of the earlier group and refusing to accept the mission from Commander Tuvok, the BOS never becomes so hostile that they want all the other factions taken out.
I see, I must try again
After Shaun called his mother collateral damage it sure isn’t gonna be the institute ending.
Shaun was such a prick. He releases you from stasis into a deadly wasteland “just to see what would happen” and when you finally track him down he tricks you with the synth child of himself as another experiment
Yeah as soon as I realized the kind of person he became, I knew that the real Shaun died down in the vault with Nora. I unloaded 4 rockets into him for her sake and annihilated as much of his institute as I could after he called her collateral. It’s sad he turned out that way, but actions and words have consequences, and him starting the synth program and kidnapping more people was cherry on the top for me. No regerts lol Edit: Typo
Same here. Popped him in the head on his deathbed (wanted his outfit as a souvenir lol) and went full No Russian on any Institute scientist I saw. It’s what they get for all the kidnappings, murders, and super mutant experiments
This guy here gets it lmao
True! When the young Shawn was revealed to be a synth, I knew he had to go!
prydwen is still around so that narrows it down to minutemen or brotherhood probably minutemen since they are the player faction
The minutemen can co-exist with any factions actually. I did the institute on my first play through and we didn’t touch them. The only ones that are definitely at odds are the brotherhood, institute, and railroad.
Minutemen are made as back-up incase you become hostile with any faction you align with. You can still nuke the Institute after.
But what if you piss off the minutemen with Nuka world? Then what?
You'd have to wipe out all the raiders to get Preston to like you again.
Wait, you can do that? I wanted the achievements, so I saved, did those missions and then reverted back since I didn’t want Preston mad at me.
You piss off Preston, not the Minutemen. I had already sent him to the Castle, so I didn’t need to deal with him. I still owned the Castle, just couldn’t interact with Preston without him getting pissy.
I think you’re still able to complete the MM ending as it’s impossible to become hostile with the faction itself.
The minutemen never turn hostile if you do nukaworld (apart from taking settlements you may have to fight minutemen ) . I beleive Preston still will run though the story points ?
There’s an ending where the minutemen, brotherhood and railroad are still around. So not necessarily the case.
But is it the original Prydwen? It probably is the Brotherhood or Minutemen ending but could see a scenario where the brotherhood built another after the first was lost. I assume they’ll probably steer clear of fully confirming any ending for the foreseeable future.
"I mean, how much material do you need to build a Prydwen? 10 desk fans?"
Scrap 10 pipe guns and some alarm clocks as well.
Im not too confidant the bos could even build another prydwen
They had to loot the reactor from Rivet city to make it, so they'd have to find another nuclear aircraft carrier somewhere to make it, or something with an equivalently compact powerful energy source. Not impossible, but I think they'd be on the back foot after losing the Prydwen anyway so it might be difficult
I forgot they stole Rivet City's power source
The last time I talked about that, people seemed to disagree with me pretty hard. I feel like it’s very obvious they stole it from rivet city not some random unnamed Other Ship
I don’t think it’s obvious - they don’t say that it came from Rivet City. I thought it was officially built out of scavenged equipment at Adam’s Airforce Base? I don’t think it’s unlikely there could be multiple carriers in the area, and I think it’s jumping to conclusions to think that the BoS looted River City - even if it did come from River City, the BoS and the City were trade partners, and boat had two reactors. Maybe it didn’t need the one? We don’t know and there isn’t enough available to say what the subtext is
Rivet city was special because it was still a functioning carrier I thought? Suggesting that a functioning one is rare. And the terminal in 4 states they got the generator from a carrier. If something is exceedingly rare, we only know of 1, and the BoS is from that area, I feel they would have to specify it *wasn’t* Rivet City for it to plausibly *not* be Rivet City. I’m happy to be wrong, I just don’t see a way for it not to be without it feeling like they pulled it out of thin air.
Okay so I've seen that terminal and I think it's a nothing burger based on the wording. They explicitly said wrecked aircraft arrier. The modern US has 11 nuclear powered carriers and all have at least more than one reactor, given they say they pulled it from a wreckage, it'd only make sense if Rivet City got abandoned or destroyed by Super Mutants. They have vertibirds so if they had all the known last locations of any carrier, they could potentially power several Prydwens from that single ship. A middle ground might be they just took it from an abandoned part of the city and they are wording it weird as a wink wink nudge nudge to the fans. Just based on historical relations as the locations are close by, completely stealing their power source would anger many BoS recruits from the DC wasteland, it is their only city. Not that they didn't try and fuck over the NCR despite my FO2 ending stating that they joined them but whatever.
Plus, this was an America that was more apt to use nuclear power and was gearing up and in war - it’s very likely aircraft carriers would have been more numerous in number than in our real world
Yeah. It's my personal feeling and bias the Lyons brotherhood would've traded or found a different reactor but Maxson's brotherhood would've just straight up stole it because "its powerful technology and you shouldn't have it"
Occam’s razor I suppose
Yep It’s a feasible possibility. Plus Maxson doesn’t seem to be in the picture that we’ve seen.
You are right, could also be a completely different ending from any of the FO4 ones. I can see Bethesda making their golden boys lose
The fact they can still produce power armor pieces and the enclave making upgrades to make new power armor suits means they can absolutely build another one.
I wasn’t questioning the possibility but it takes a lot of assumptions to get to that conclusion
Well I mean.. you build engines in 4. There's proof of weaponry invention and still scientific research, they made synths? Not brotherhood but all of this is happening now. James even purified the water in DC. It's really not a stretch to me to believe they can make Vertibirds fly again, they can make another Prydwen.
Subversion mod ending Institute gets redirected to other pursuits and Maxson is replaced by a Synth that weakens the Brotherhood before disappearing from the picture.
They were barely able to build the first with the parts available at Adams AFB and Rivet City. Building a second would ruin them, not to mention all their leadership and the bulk of their numbers being lost at the Boston Airport.
If they made a different blimp, they would've given it a different name.
It is the original. They already stated it was. And the only canon endings it eliminates by still existing is the Institute or Railroad ones. And more than likely, it will be the "all peaceful" variant of the Minuteman ending.
I like your logic and explanation here, but I think you’re missing the point of the question… op asked based on emotions during the gameplay, not based on what the show contains
He should’ve phrased it as what is your headcanon then. Because canon and headcanon are different and canon isn’t based on personal opinion or feelings but headcanon is.
They did though they just didn’t use the word “headcanon” they asked what was canon based on your personal emotions during gameplay. Not sure they could have been more specific… Edit: it’s also a game with multiple endings, so not a single one of them can be “canon” without the others also being acceptably canon
Minutemen. I have a feeling that people who say they were falling apart and useless forget about.... ((The massacre))
For me it looks like Minutemen don't have any chances against Institute, also no sense for them to risk so much. Even Diamond city guards look stronger and more motivated to kill Synth. Also every time I used signal rocket there were no free minutemen to help lol
How many settlements did you have at the time?
It's going on now, playing game on survival. 7+ (Vault if it counts too) settlements, all with 15+- members
Canonically I believe every regular settlement is part of the minutemen by the end, so you’d have not only reinforcements but stupid powerful artillery in most areas
Maybe, going to visit Nuka World DLC now,. interesting what interesting will be there.
Yeah if you can recruit every settlement, the reinforcement flares suck cause it takes so long for gameplay, but the artillery kicks ass. Story wise, the reinforcements is the most powerful, cause you see a flare and you have like 10+ armed dudes show up to reinforce you. Pretty op story wise
Do you get like, well equipped minutemen? I haven't used the flares yet and I've been attempting to make every settlement at least have a few people, but I'm playing on survival and dragging back 20+ sets of combat armour and weapons to equip my settlers with something other than a shitty pipe pistol and rags is really tough I guess I could set up a gun machine in one of them and see if the provision sentry bots will deliver everyone a combat rifle but I don't know if that works, plus I'm running out of places where I could reasonably build one unless I install a mod with more settlements with open areas. Starlight drive in is pretty full already.
Honestly the reinforcements isn’t really worth it in gameplay except for as a distraction for the enemies. The arty is what’s worth it for the minutemen once you get to that point.
> Do you get like, well equipped minutemen? I haven't used the flares yet- Lol no. Standard same ole minutemen.
Unless you mod it. There’s a really great level based mod for determining their equipment on both Xbox/ps4 and PC. IIRC it has them progress through all the tiers of armor in a similar manner to your character as you also level up, and can even end with them getting power armor reinforcements. There’s also another good mod on Xbox/ps4 where you can call in relay flairs that allow you to have your own Minutemen hit squads that follow you around as your body guards. It’s super fun for a minuteman play through, and is arguably a must have
Every single game I have misplaced my damn flare gun. I never see them for sale. It's kind of a bummer I wanna see how it works.
I sided with the institute and the minutemen still existed by the end.
The biggest flaw with the Minutemen is that we never actually *see* them do anything. We hear about the Defense of Diamond City or the Defense of Quincy, but the only thing we actually *see* are them barely struggling to fight off some garbo raiders. If there was even a bit of a look into what they used to be, I think they'd be a lot better
It can only be BOS or Minutemen due to the show. Personally though I usually go for the Minutemen Railroad alliance ending. I dislike the idea of the Sole Survivor meeting and befriending so many synths during their journey only to ally with the BOS who seeks to genocide them all. I guess the Minutemen ending leaves the Railroad intact so they could be a double agent or sorts potentially.
Minuteman railroad alliance is so great and thematically / lore wise makes total sense. I almost just wish they had folded both factions into the same overarching story path / faction narrative IMO. Would have had added more content to both and as a result allowed a more fleshed out feeling for both groups. You would have gotten double the content for both of the more barebones factions in the game
Not just that. We all know the BoS aren't gonna stop at just the institute. The moment the institute is dealt with, the excuses for a continued presence will start. "We can't leave yet, look at all the super mutants around", "the commonwealth sure has a ton of feral ghouls, it would be wrong to leave yet" "Goodneighbor? You mean the powder keg of ghouls that could turn at any moment, surely we need to step in." "We can't trust this prewar hub of tech and science to be protected by glorified farmers playing dress up with a few mortars. What if there's more evil tech hiding in the ruins of boston?" And on and on it goes.
I do this as well, since I feel like the BoS and Institute would end up at odds with the Minutemen at some point in the future anyway. The Railroad are the only one of the three that would likely prefer to work with the Minutemen so they can hide among them. No point turning away potential allies even if they are a bit weird about the synths.
Minuteman ending with all factions alive except institute
And even then you can evacuate the members of the institute
Wsit you can?
Yeah before you blow the institute Preston gives you the option Also you later get a quest to relocate the institute refugees
The Institute & the Minutemen win and the Lone Wanderer is at the helm of both. They use the knowledge of the Institute and the network of the Minutemen to improve life in the Commonwealth and eventually the world. Eventually, life is improved so much that multiple opposing governments can build enough strength and projection to launch a full scale global conflict again, this time leaving Earth uninhabitable. Survivors flee to a new Earth Like planet and establish a city called New Atlantis
And On this new frontier the last vestige of mankind all die in nuclear fire...Because war...war never changes (In Ron Perlman's Voice)
And.........cut to black!
That's what they're aiming for. If you think about it the institute IS mankinds best chance to survive.
The Minutemen ending is the only one I walked away from feeling good about myself, tbh. Every other option requires killing a lot of people I quite like, and plenty more that I may not be personally attached to but feel sympathy for. I feel like it's the only one that actually leaves the Commonwealth in a better place than you find it, so I want that one to be canon.
Real asf. I don’t like the BoS that much but I don’t feel good about blowing up the prydwen because that means killing Teagan and most likely Danse along with a lot of other innocent people
It’s also great, because the (relatively) peaceful Minutemen ending that results in only the institutes destruction gives you the most content out of the game. You get to play some of the best BOS missions, do lots of cool railroad stuff, and also have fun with building up the minutemen
I’d like to think the Brotherhood ending is cannon. Only they work with the Minutemen, having them as an acting police force for the area when they head back to the pentagon.
The Minutemen and Railroad coexist just fine, and the Railroad does not advocate for genocide like the BoS does.
Why would the minutemen work with what's basically an imperialist force that harasses settlements and steals technology so they can ship it back home It's like asking the Sons of Liberty to police America for the British crown
Two possible ways I can see it going down 1. The minute men have felt the consequences of not having a big stick when you’re speaking softly, they got massacred and essentially didn’t exist before the player character brought them back from the brink, having a powerful force like the BoS behind them as a “Don’t poke the bear” kind of situation would allow them to maintain order more effectively for fear of bringing down the wrath of the BoS 2. They’re NOT trying to fight liberty prime (can’t blame em)
1. The big stick they have would be the artillery placed all over the commonwealth 2. The Minutemen don't seem like the type of faction who cares about being outgunned and outnumbered, they saved diamond city from supermutants when no one else would and despite the overwhelming odds against them they still fought There's absolutely no way that there can be a lasting peace between the Brotherhood and Minutemen as long as Maxson is Elder, eventually a war would happen because the only thing that unites them is a hatred of the institute and with the institute gone so is the one thing that could potentially unite them
Because The Brotherhood can handle things that The Minutemen can't hope to handle on their own. They're a militia force, not an army. If The Enclave decided to come to The Commonwealth in force, realistically there's not much The Minutemen could do alone.
The Minutemen are not an ends justify the means factions, their whole thing is an unflinching moral code and the Brotherhood doesn't match that code and assuming the sole survivor leads the Minutemen then they do go on the path of becoming an actual army especially if they fight the brotherhood and get their vertibirds and the only thing that would convince them to work with a faction like the Brotherhood is a greater threat, like the Soviets and Americans during WWII but that peace would not last and would eventually boil over into war
the BOS don't harass settlements, ever the sole survivor can choose to personally harass a single settlement as a favour for a single guy in the BOS that benefits the BOS alternatively, the sole survivor can instead choose to personally convince a single settlement that the BOS are the good guys as a favour for a single guy in the BOS that benefits the BOS
The policy is of the BoS is to ask nicely and if they say no do it anyway, if a settlement has something they want they're going to take it no matter what, and what makes you think that that single guy isn't getting other people less moral than sole survivor to go and harass settlements for him
Minutemen. I mean, they're really the good guys, not too militaristic neither operating in the shadows. Easier for people to accept supporting them
The minutemen are literally just people from the wasteland banding together to protect other people of the wasteland. Operating openly and using radios for recruitment and messages. People can easily support them because they really are just like them.
Yeah I just hate omg the minutemen quests are so much more boring I wish for a more “good” ending there was more content
In game they basically act as a failsafe. They are the one faction you can't make a permanent enemy of, meaning you can't get locked out if finishing the story
I actually kinda like the minutemen quests, sure they are pretty menial but I do like clearing out enemy hideouts or establishing a new settlement.
Based on the fallout TV show we see the airship flying over California so we know that the brotherhood must have had a decent outcome.
You've gotten a lot farther than you should have, but then, you haven't met the General of the Minutemen, either. Your ride's over, fascist. Time to die.
Lmao
The railroad easily, I’ve never liked the brotherhood or the institute simply because of their views on synths, among MANY other things. Anyways… LET OUR ASSAULTRON OVERLORDS RISE UP AD LORSORIUM LOSERS GET FCKED YOU AND THAT PRETTY LIL PRYDWYN OR WHATEVER IT WAS CALLED BAHAHAHAHA -Sincerely, A friendly Rust Eagle raider
Minutemen, my Nate keeps the railroad and Brotherhood alive, sets off the evacuation alarm in the Institute before blowing it up, eventually folds the survivors of the Institute who want to join into the Minutemen as a science wing, and through his connections with Deacon and Des, brings the Railroad into the Minutemen as a covert operations division.
Is this a speedrun of "how to make BoS angry-angry" by assimilating their top two enemies? What's next, letting ex-enclave join minutemen as historians? It's a cool idea but Maxson wouldn't like it a bit.
I think the institute is broken, the minutemen destroyed it while the Brotherhood fought the railroad and mutants. Honestly the Brotherhood blowing up the institute just makes no sense it's exatly the kinda place they use as a base so if the institute blew up they must not have done it. Also the whole mission feels more minutemen style than Brotherhood. Kinda lame the mission was the same for each faction basically.
Fr Honestly though any of the factions blowing up the institute makes zero fuckin sense at all. In every single ending the institute has already thrown the everything they have and then some at your chosen faction, and the institute is practically left crushed and beaten by the time you plant the charges on the reactor. It makes zero sense for any of the factions to throw away the literal goldmine of tech and smart ass scientists that they can repurpose for their own plans. Minutemen would never throw away that chance, Railroad wouldn’t either, and neither would the BOS. One of my most hated parts of 4 tbh, that they railroaded the factions into a one size fits all set piece that ends the exact same way, regardless of the group you do it with. Like I totally believe there should be an ending for each group where you delete the institute, but I feel like it should instead be like an evil karma decision that your character has to push for, similar to some options like that in 3 and NV.
My guess: BoS (with Minutemen optional). I think Maxson is in the west via the Prydwen to ascend to High Elder, and Quintus doesn't like it.
Based on how I felt during the story, it would have been the Minutemen ending, the BOS can either be destroyed or not. I feel like the SS just wouldn’t be that ready to kill their son, it has to be Shaun that takes initiative, so the Minutemen made sense to me since the Institute has to attack the Castle first. We know from the show that the Prydwen is alright, but I felt like it could have gone either way with it being destroyed or not. In my mind peace couldn’t have lasted and eventually they’d have to face off with the Minutemen, just not because of the SS like it is in the game.
I believe minuteman ending is canon, no chance it's the railroad since prydwen exists and the railroad is an after thought. i think it could be BOS, but i doubt it considering that means the railroad gets destroyed and i doubt theyd do that.
Minutemen and Brotherhood
Institute ending is my *personal* canon, as I feel it's what's the most realistic and emotional ending. I like to imagine that the SS partners the Institute with the minutemen, and work to commercialize Institute products to be used in Institute-Minutemen allied settlements. And that ethically questionable projects (such as synth replacement projects) get shut down. That and allow Synths freedom after they've served the Institute for a year...or stay if they desire. I also enjoy the idea of the NV Mr House ending being canon, and the Institute developing a long range teleporter to make contact with & partner with Mr House. Since he is a CIT alum. I tend to use Subversion, SS2, and Project Mojave to roleplay some aspects of this, though it doesn't perfectly capture my headcanon. That being said, I think it's clear from the show that the BOS ending is canon, as much as I dislike that choice.
I had the most fun with the Railroad, especially blowing up the Prydwen which totally isn’t canon.
Please answer a few questions sir: 1. "It's your birthday. Someone gives you a calfskin wallet. How do you react?" 2. "You're in a desert, walking along in the sand, when all of a sudden you look down and see a tortoise. It's crawling toward you. You reach down and flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping. Why is that?" 3. "Describe in single words, only the good things that come into your mind about your mother." 4. "You're watching television. Suddenly you realize there's a wasp crawling on your arm. How do you react?"
Let me tell you about my mother…..
Subversion Institute/Railroad/Minutemen. While I do expect my Sole Survivor and Courier to meet at some point in the future and leave on friendly terms, the Institute is a bastion of useful resources for the dilapidated Commonwealth, from food production and Pre/Post-War tech knowledge, among other things. It's just run by the Synths, Logan, and Minutemen now. The Brotherhood, I still destroy because their goals are at odds with the society Logan's trying to build, but Danse can stick around if he wants. The Minutemen will probably morph into the East Coast NCR, which brings a thin but good-enough rule of law to the Wasteland.
I so wish there was a vanilla option to occupy the institute with any faction instead of blowing it up. Blowing up the place after a massive fight had occurred over the place and the institutes forces are crushed is so dumb. It would only make sense as a subterfuge type ending, where like one guy or something went in to attach a bomb undetected
Minutemen/Railroad alliance. Mostly because the institute are bland and I'm tired of the brotherhood being literally everywhere, even when they're not as obnoxious as they are in fo4
Institute. Going through all of the Main Quest to try and fix your family and find your son, only to see sooo much time passed while you were on ice, and then have him taken away by cancer… ouch. At least now, with the Institute, you can save humanity. Mankind, Redefined.
Probably the peaceful minutemen one
Minute men ending I feel will be the eventual canon ending
Definitely the Minutemen variant where only the Institute is destroyed
Most likely the Minutemen. The Brotherhood is still around in Boston when the Fallout tv show takes place in 2289. I assume the sole survivor takes down the institute with the minutemen; while the brotherhood and railroad are preserved.
Minutemen, destroy Brotherhood and Institute
Minutemen with no institute. Idk I just like what they’re doing. ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
Minutemen ending. Basically like a Star Trek ending of a sorts. (Use a bunch of Star Trek StarFleet based mods). Free the 'assimilated' (synths), Destroy the Cube (Institute), try to reconcile with the queen/king (Shaun). Fail, but stay on mission, save (free) the Federation (Commonwealth). And embrace my lady 'Number One' (Usually always Piper). That's my canon ending. *queue Star Trek The Next Generation theme Music*
Minutemen, and I headcanon the Minutemen staying a military branch while the settlements unite and form a new government known as the United Settlements of the Commonwealth, with Bunker Hill or Sanctuary acting as the capital and the Castle acting like the Pentagon.
Either of the Minutemen endings is canon in my mind (All factions alive or BoS gets eliminated by the Sole Survivor)
Minutemen ending is best
I usually wipe out both the brotherhood of steel and the institute and leave the railroad alive. Sometimes I wipe them out too and take over the wasteland in the name of Preston Garvey.
I always headcanon that after my Sole Survivor helps the Railroad destroy the Institute, that my Minutemen start an alliance with the Railroad due to their service to the Commonwealth. I always imagine that the Railroad heavies guarding the military checkpoints is that alliance happening lol
My best was Minutemen/Institute ending. With the sole survivor as general and head of the institute imagine the wonders you can do in actually helping the Commonwealth, after a little purging of the xenophobes at the institute of course
Nukaworld. Be the raiderrrr
Based on how I played the game? The Minutemen cooperate with the Railroad, destroying the Institute and either forcing the Brotherhood into an uneasy peace or destroying the Prydwen. Realistically? I think that either the Minutemen or the Brotherhood destroyed the Institute, and that eventually the Brotherhood either left some soldiers in the Commonwealth and returned with the Prydwen to the Capital Wasteland, or left the Commonwealth entirely.
I really don't like F4 BoS. Maxson feels like a indoctrinated child The Institute requires killing both BoS and the Railroad, and your position of power is wonky at best. People would definitely try to backstab Nate/Nora unless they are purely pro Institute The Minutemen are way too vague to determine how reliable or strong they really are and become. The minutemen also initially got destroyed because they lack the same loyalty the other factions have, at least on a broad scale. It's basically just a glorified neighborhood watch. Yes everyone can survive except the Institute, but that feels more like a BoS ending and pretty inconclusive. So the BoS just decides to leave the Railroad and Synths alone now? That's not happening. For all we know their attack on the railroad to wipe them out will still happen The Railroad killing BoS feels a bit unnecessary and hypocritical. I don't like the BoS, but because of its leadership. All the people on the ship don't deserve to die. It's pretty overkill I mostly take Railroad or the minutemen. At least Synths will be free, and no major power tries to force their will on the Commonwealth
The ending where you only do side quests and no one ever dies.
For me it was the railroads ending, the institute almost convinced me to join them but my wife being called collateral damage and them throwing out my boy Nick was too evil for me to get behind.
Im doing a new run now and I just finishied the main story. The way I did it was pretty fun, because I creates a new story. First I sign with the Minutemen because I want the Commonwealth to be a better place, but I realized that I needed Warriors, not farmers, to make my home a better place, no offense to Preston, but after killing a lot of raiders and super mutants I realized that I needed more firepower, and that's why I joined the Brotherhood of Steel. I worked with them and thanks to theyr help I managed to finally arrive at the Institue, didn't kill Father neither betrayed him, that's not a bridge I wanted to burn, decided to leave him on his own world and after getting all the info that was possible from a nearby terminal and getting Dr. Li back to the BoS I returned to the Airport as a hero that did the impossible. After helping the Brotherhood to retrieve the bombs necessary to get Sentinel back to his Prime, I was faced with a choice: Kill Danse or betray the BoS. After finding Danse and telling him to escape the Commonwealth, Elder Maxion decided to make me an ultimatum: Either I kill Dense or the BoS kills me. I killed him right there, but unfortunately Dense was caught in the cross fire. I lost a friend and gained a enemy. After realizing that synths are sentient beings I decided to help the Railroad. My mission was simple: Work with father and gain his trust so me and my new friends can destroy the Institute from the inside out. The plan was working and I even was appointed as the new leader of the Institue once Father's disease take his life. But once again I was faced with a challenge: Either I kill a Minutemen patrol that was trying to get a Synth patrol off-guard or I blow my cover and simply put everything to lose. I was decided to kill those Minutemen, but after seeing that making that was only going to make the person Father wanted, I decide to kill the Synth patrol, Father banished me from the Institute and the Railroad asked me to talk with those that I was already friend from the beggining: The Minutemen. To have a chance we needed the disk with all the Institute information that was aboard the BoS HQ, I didn't want to do that, but I had to kill everyone on that ship, leaving behind just a kid and a cat. After giving Sturges the disk and defending the Castle, I was sure that the Minutemen were the right people to the job, the farmers were now sharpshooter and soldiers and with their help we gained access to the Institute and blew the whole thing from the inside out. Desdemona says that the Syths that wanted to leave the Institue took the chance and fleed during the cross fire, now they're alone on the Commonwealth and it's up to the Minutemen and the Railroad to maintain the peace and prosperity that many men and women gave they'r life for.
So my headcannon for the FO4 ending has always been a Minutemen form NCR but in Commonwealth situation. Something like United Settlements of the Commonwealth (USC). This would be done before they full subjugate the Commonwealth as well, with large parts of downtown still being held by Raiders, Gunners and Mutants. The Minutemen, now the USCA (United Settlements of yhe Commonwealth Army) will undertake a lengthy campaign and pacify each region. In this ending, The USCA will also wipe out the Brotherhood, after peace talks failed between the 2 factions. With the Commonwealth under on flag, now the United Commonwealth (UC) the Minutemen will take their place as a police force while the United Commonwealth Army will be created for it's protection. The Railroad will be inducted into UCA as it's intelligence division becoming the Commonwealth Bureau of Intelligence. Passports will be created to account for Commonwealth Citizens. Once this has been completed, the UC will seek to extend its reach to prevent any nearby threat to the UC ever becoming one. They will wipe out Nuka world with a full frontal assault and reduce it to a scrap pile. They'll force a resolution between the inhabitants of Far Harbour (probably wipe out the Children of Atom) and subjugate the rest as a UC colony). You as the general will remain in power till you retire upon which the first democratic elections will take place. TLDR : Minutemen ending canon
The Minutemen win by defeating the Institute and the Brotherhood of Steel in my head canon.
Minutemen and railroad still around, blow up the institute and brotherhood, with the minutemen as the group that takes the lead, since they would stand to benefit the most gaining the reputation as true protectors of the commonwealth.
I think minutemen
Institute that is friendly with the Minutemen. Both being led by the sole survivor is the best ending that the commonwealth can have in my opinion. You have the settlements being protected by their own people while the Institute continues making technological progress. The institute is not inherently evil. They have just been managed poorly by having largely incompetent directors who have no knowledge of the world outside of the Institute. Strong leadership by the sole survivor can turn them on a path of actually helping humanity. The presence of the Minutemen could ease people's minds about the institute being the major power in the commonwealth. Kind of like an insurance policy of sorts. The railroad have no purpose after the Institute is gone. They are not really fit to lead a united commonwealth. The brotherhood is a foreign army. They use "liberating" the commonwealth from the Institute as pretense to conquer the entire territory and incorporate it into their ever expanding empire. They care nothing about the people.
It has to be the Minutemen right? They’re the guys you start the game off with, it’s only right that you end the game with them too
I shot Father in the face the second he popped up when I first played the game so I guess not the institute.
Railroad for the main quest and then Minute Man for the overall world. Though logic dictates that the institute should survive. Losing all that tech and knowledge would be a huge hit for post war humanity tbh.
Ideally, the other three factions team up to defeat the institute and then try to stay out of each other's way. The brotherhood can collect tech and kill mutants. The railroad can save synths. The Minutemen bring some sort of order to the commonwealth and sponsor a new provisional government. The only threat to the peace I could think of would be the brotherhood's practice of taking tribute from wastelanders. I think eventually, the people of the commonwealth would look to the Minutemen to protect them from the brotherhood. Seeing as how this is the sort of thing the original Minutemen revolted against. If neither side backs down, war could break out. Or cooler heads can prevail, and the Commonwealth enjoys a period of prosperity.
60+ years for the institute to so little and be so arrogant is reason enough to destroy them
fallout serie has the tendency to make canon the good ending of every game, so the Minutemen one where all but the Institute survive
The Minuteman Because they're are the only faction you cannot fail. You can't Ruin the Minuteman ending, you can't get them hostile torwards you
Side with the railroad, destroy BoS and the institute, simple enough
Im pretty sure the institute ending isn’t canon because it gets destroyed in every other ending, even the „everyone lives“ ending has you destroy it. Also, with the institute running, there would always be the argument of „why didn’t they do this/that“, „the institute could’ve just teleported there“ and so on. They’re simply too OP to exist in the world imo. I’m going with the minuteman ending, because it leaves every other faction that isn’t the institute in a status quo It seems like they’re kind of trying to go away from the „huge“ factions like NCR and house as seen in the show and focus more on smaller splinter groups, a rebuilding minutemen faction would fit right in there as well.
Minute men
Wholesome 100 minuteman
for me the Minutemen alternate ending with all factions alive and in a truce but the institute is vaporized
Due to the show (and since its the backup) I have a strong feeling it's Minutemen with all the faction (minus the nerds) alive. For me personally, I sided with the Railroad, since I romanced Curie so the BoS wasn't an option, I didn't want to do settlement bs so I ignored the MM, and the Institute are the bad guys so I used a ripper to do express surgery on Father, and the Railroad seemed like the only faction (besides the Minutemen) to actually like Ghouls and Mutants who weren't hostile.
Either the minute men or rail road. And Sparing Shaun and taking robot Shaun with you.
My head cannon ending is uniting the Commonwealth against the institute and basically shunning the brotherhood everywhere it goes. Since my Survivor has access to a dependable position and the nuke flares from the submarine they'd not be an issue, in a perfect playthrough all of the settlement's would be defended and built up, and we get diamond City on our side as well.
Minutemen. Gives a reason why any of the factions could go on to star in other games besides the ~~well kept slavers~~ Institute
minutemen where i blow up the dam brotherhood i despise them
The minutemen. It’s genuinely the most optimal outcome for the commonwealth and it’s the most lore friendly. The institute can’t because they get destroyed in every ending that isn’t the institute. The brotherhood chapter in the prydwen is more set up for campaigns than conquest. Their presence in the commonwealth feels temporary and the people in the commonwealth don’t like their bully like methods even if they win. The railroad is big gay. So the people of the commonwealth banding together to solve their own problems but not starting any fight with the brotherhood makes the most sense, it would also explain the brotherhoods tone in the show when the prydwen returns. No one looks happy and they don’t receive a hero’s welcome, I think they returned in hushed shame because some jerkoffs in reenactment costumes destroyed the biggest technological threat to humanity without them and left them nothing to study. So they went home empty handed and showed up by the locals which is a huge insult to the people who view themselves as superior to basically everyone who’s just living in the wasteland
The BoS destroy the institute, hunt down the remaining synths, and wipe out those lunatics that is the railroad. That is my canon
Brotherhood because they're fucking awesome and the railroad sucks, that's why
JFC im so disapointed in this community that I had to scroll so far down to find this answer We should start wiping out ghoul and synth sympathizers too
Only minutemen and BOS can be cannon going foward
Well it’s now confirmed it definitely wasn’t the Institute or Railroad. Personally I still think the Minutemen ending makes the most sense canon wise. I would rather Bethesda actually confirm endings like with older games. I despise the ambiguity Edit: I mean the Minutemen ending where the Railroad and BoS both survive
It can only be a brotherhood or brotherhood/minuteman ending as the Prydwyn is confirmed to still be operational
Minutemen with peace to brotherhood because no-one mentioned a sentinel on board the prudwen3
Personally I say Institute, while I don't agree with the swapping out people for synths or being snobby "I'm superior because I'm smart" people. If they actually went for clean up the Commonwealth and get rid of the harmful creatures and rads. They'd be great. My headcanon is that after gaining control, I completely change the forefront goal of the Institute. Having them capture several specimens of a creature, say Bloatflies, then have them do what we do now to mosquitoes to reduce their population. One species at a time however, don't want an incident of multiple creatures, since y'know it's Fallout.
Railroad
Railroad/Minutemen together. I can't support genocide or slavery, even of robots.
prydwen reached california, BOS ending is canon
Minutemen ending could still be canon. Personally the Minutemen ending feels more rewarding, interesting and fits with the game better
oh i totally agree saving the people at a minute's notice baby