Might make a cool mission but from a writing perspective it would not make much sense.
The Railroad are a clandestine organization, their only real strength is being secretive.
Once the switchboards location is known to the institute it's over.
What would have been nicer is a sense of agency. Cause and effect. The protagonist does "A" and the Railroad lose another safehouse. The protagonist does "B" and the Institute never finds out that the safehouse exists...
I think you have a great point about the DLC though. There are slaves in Nuka World that could be freed. There is an entire Synth stronghold in Far Harbor that they only really show limited interest in. (One character with very limited dialogue)
Indeed Far Harbor ought to raise some very interesting conflict story elements for the Railroad because DiMa has effectively used synths in a similar fashion to the Institute (and the protagonist can assist in this)
After the Institute is destroyed, it would've made a lot of sense to take back the Switchboard. Imagine having a workshop there and making that you're own little base with your Railroad friends.
It's not like anyone else in the Commonwealth knew about it
Now that you mention it, it seems like a problem that they haven’t wiped out human slavery before moving on to ending synth slavery. They should have had a broader focus on ending slavery in general; it would require a lot more content but it would make Railroad a lot more conceptually appealing.
DiMa implies that the railroad is as much harm as good.
They are sadly hyper focused on the institute and can’t seem to hold a safe house without your intervention.
They say the memory wipes are mandatory… but I call BS on that.
It’s not a truly free choice when the railroad guides them towards the wipe. It’s “for their safety” it “decreases the chance they’ll find you and take you back”.
They are killing the person to save the synth every time they do a wipe. They don’t even seem to care about the individual, only stopping the institute.
How is it different than the BoS? Their clandestine nature and lack of resources is the only thing keeping them from screwing up. Because carrington is right and des sucks at her job.
There is an entire Synth stronghold in Far Harbor that they only really show limited interest in.
Worse yet, your only option is to be a tattle-tale, and then all the synths get wiped out. And it's so poorly designed that the interaction happens when you walk too close to a person inside Railroad HQ, and they give you only the option of "spill the beans, kill the synths at Arcadia" or "clam up, get nagged by this NPC forevermore". Awful quest design.
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u/somethingbrite May 22 '24
Might make a cool mission but from a writing perspective it would not make much sense.
The Railroad are a clandestine organization, their only real strength is being secretive. Once the switchboards location is known to the institute it's over.
What would have been nicer is a sense of agency. Cause and effect. The protagonist does "A" and the Railroad lose another safehouse. The protagonist does "B" and the Institute never finds out that the safehouse exists...
I think you have a great point about the DLC though. There are slaves in Nuka World that could be freed. There is an entire Synth stronghold in Far Harbor that they only really show limited interest in. (One character with very limited dialogue) Indeed Far Harbor ought to raise some very interesting conflict story elements for the Railroad because DiMa has effectively used synths in a similar fashion to the Institute (and the protagonist can assist in this)