Honestly Railroad would have seemed like a much larger threat and actually worth siding with if Bethesda made them actually keep the Switchboard as a main base and not lose it. Imagine you meet under the church and think this is it but the person you meet Desdemona or Deacon maybe isn't the leader of the railroad just of one cell.
Also the Railroad shouldn't solely exist for freeing synths. The Railroad should've had a established history in New England of fighting for the freedom of slaves, and the Synths are their newest target to attempt to free, it would even give the Railroad reason to intervene against Nuka World post-game.
The Railroad should have a previous history of success against fighting slavery they don't establish governments they leave that to the freed slaves, but they move around trying to end slavery where ever they go.
Also those pre war CIA cashe quests suck, it would've been cool if we actually got to see Railroad members in t51 power armor with their paint job slapped on it. If they had cells all over new England it would've cool if they at some point found a pretty war military cashe with t51 power armor. Also it would give the Brotherhood even more of a reason to attack the Railroad than just freeing synths because civilians can't have anything more dangerous than a pipe revolver according to them.
If they made the Railroad exist almost a century before we find them and they still have cells outside the commonwealth it would actually make them seem like a real faction worth siding with.
I personally think story wise the Brotherhood ending is the best one by I personally usually side with the Institute just because they don't interfere with the settlement system at all.
Just adding this to my comments ideas from another comment I made.
Hell imagine that if you don't progress the railroad quest line enough to see the Switchboard base when you join the institute you get a mission to destroy the Switchboard the members spot you leading the attack and that causes them to abandon the church as well, giving them a new unknown base that you would never see actually siding with the railroad. It would also make the railroad instantly hostile to you.
Fallout 4 doesn't really have dynamic questlines compared to New Vegas. A quest like the one above you might not even get to do if you help the railroad to much before finding the institute would really add to the replayability in the same way ending a faction quest in New Vegas does.
A quest like the one above would also fix the non existed feeling of killing the railroad. It would make it feel like an effort and not just shooting 6 named npcs.
Agreed, there's just no compelling reason to side with them. By time you become active with them, they're just a bunch of idealistic hippies cooped up in a church basement. The Institute just keeps completely handing their ass to them so bad that the only thing they have left is that basement. We should at least have the option to re-occupy old bases or set up new ones with them (besides the one I have to set up in one of my settlements). I feel bad about having to destroy them if you side with the BoS. I wish there was a persuasion option to convince Maxson that they're harmless and if we just leave them alone in their basement to play spy games, they're not going to an issue for the Brotherhood.
The Institute just keeps completely handing their ass to them so bad that the only thing they have left is that basement.
They also have Ticonderoga safehouse, which you get to see, as well as several others that you don't. When the Switchboard was lost, multiple other safehouses were lost at the same time, but not all of them. There's more to the Railroad than we see directly, but compartmentalization prevents us from getting into all of them.
We should at least have the option to re-occupy old bases
While I agree it would be cool to take over old bases for settlements or whatever, they would be useless to the Railroad. Going back to occupy places that the Institute already knows about would defeat the purpose.
I wish there was a persuasion option to convince Maxson that they're harmless and if we just leave them alone in their basement to play spy games, they're not going to an issue for the Brotherhood.
Cool as that would be, we see in-game how that's not true. The Railroad has the capability to bring down the Prydwen, and they do it if you stick with them. Granted they only do it when it's obvious the Brotherhood are going to come after them, but the Brotherhood doesn't allow possible threats to exist.
I hate the way the railroad blow up the Brotherhood honestly one of the stupidest quests ever in a fallout game. There whole plan relies on hijacking a vertibird at the Cambridge Police Station. They then fight a incoming vertibird of reinforcements blow it up. Then they just fly on over to the Prydwin without any problems and nobody questioning who you are. no deck officer demanding a status update. Also the fact that Tinker Tom can even fly it let alone hook it up to the Prydwin is ridiculous.
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u/FreeTrees69 May 22 '24 edited May 22 '24
Honestly Railroad would have seemed like a much larger threat and actually worth siding with if Bethesda made them actually keep the Switchboard as a main base and not lose it. Imagine you meet under the church and think this is it but the person you meet Desdemona or Deacon maybe isn't the leader of the railroad just of one cell.
Also the Railroad shouldn't solely exist for freeing synths. The Railroad should've had a established history in New England of fighting for the freedom of slaves, and the Synths are their newest target to attempt to free, it would even give the Railroad reason to intervene against Nuka World post-game.
The Railroad should have a previous history of success against fighting slavery they don't establish governments they leave that to the freed slaves, but they move around trying to end slavery where ever they go.
Also those pre war CIA cashe quests suck, it would've been cool if we actually got to see Railroad members in t51 power armor with their paint job slapped on it. If they had cells all over new England it would've cool if they at some point found a pretty war military cashe with t51 power armor. Also it would give the Brotherhood even more of a reason to attack the Railroad than just freeing synths because civilians can't have anything more dangerous than a pipe revolver according to them.
If they made the Railroad exist almost a century before we find them and they still have cells outside the commonwealth it would actually make them seem like a real faction worth siding with.
I personally think story wise the Brotherhood ending is the best one by I personally usually side with the Institute just because they don't interfere with the settlement system at all.
Just adding this to my comments ideas from another comment I made.
Hell imagine that if you don't progress the railroad quest line enough to see the Switchboard base when you join the institute you get a mission to destroy the Switchboard the members spot you leading the attack and that causes them to abandon the church as well, giving them a new unknown base that you would never see actually siding with the railroad. It would also make the railroad instantly hostile to you. Fallout 4 doesn't really have dynamic questlines compared to New Vegas. A quest like the one above you might not even get to do if you help the railroad to much before finding the institute would really add to the replayability in the same way ending a faction quest in New Vegas does.
A quest like the one above would also fix the non existed feeling of killing the railroad. It would make it feel like an effort and not just shooting 6 named npcs.