why doesn't the institute...

[nexbil01]

... already have a working fusion reactor?

 

... use conventional robots like protectrons and assaultrons?

 

... have cars or vertibirds?

 

... talk to the enclave?

 

... claim a chunk of the surface commonwealth and put up a wall around it?

 

... do something for humanity like cure the mutants or wipe out feral ghouls?

[TheVampireDante]

1. Dunno. Need vs risk perhaps? Fusion reactor goes off.... Well, we know what happens there.

They seemed happy with just draining the existing Boston powergrid until the place grew so big they had to switch on their pre-war reactor. Plus finding people/parts suitable for the thing to work seems to have taken up a fair amount of time.

 

2. Institute's about advancement, using old tech unless absolutely required doesn't really mesh well with their mindset. Plus relying on outside tech that seems easily hacked or prone to breaking down wouldn't be ideal...

 

3. They teleport personnel and materials to their locations (or as close as possible), no need for transports which would risk damage, injury or loss of life/synths.

 

4. Enclave's a military minded setup. they'd likely try and control the Institute and everything would be switched to weapons and armour development rather than other scientific fields.

 

5. That would make them a huge target to everyone. Not just the Commonwealth groups - gangs or other organized factions would set their sights on them and make things very difficult over the long run.

 

6. They'd need to know the source of the mutants first, and if you've followed the story there seems to be only one scientist that's figured out a way to reverse the change, and their work is very early stage.

Ferals spring from ghouls whose minds have been eroded by the radiation they embody, becoming a ghoul just "happens" to regular people. To properly remove all ferals you'd have to kill anyone that turned into a ghoul to eliminate the chance.

[StormWolf01]

The institute is trying to stay in the shadows as much as possible. Having running vehicles draws attention. Too many people can see a vertibird flying around. And since all the cars got nuked, if you see a car, truck, or transport driving around, everybody is GONNA stop and stare. Not to mention people that might just try to steal it from you.

 

When you have to deal with a limited type of resources, you kinda want to stick to parts that work for that line. Since the institute is so heavily involved in making syths, it doesn't make sense to try to keep getting parts for robots too. Or vehicles, for that matter.

Not to mention that syths can do mostly anything that a robot can do. In some cases, do it much better, and with less supervision. Especially the Gen 3's.

 

They do however know the source of the supermutants. (I could be wrong on this, I'm tired as all heck, and I don't wanna go look it up) but I'm thinking the institute is actually the cause of the virus. But yeah, virgil is the only one who had a working knowledge of how to reverse it. And he cut ship and ran.

 

Who's to say that they don't have plans to infiltrate the enclave? They've already got plants inside the brotherhood. Maybe it just hasn't been revealed yet. ;)

[nexbil01]

Thinking back on a proposed rewrite of the main storyline I always imagined that the institute would put out a call for mercenaries to fight the BOS or minutemen and a squad of enclave soldiers or legionaires showed up to fight for them.

[markusm1000]

I always imagined that the institute would put out a call for mercenaries

Why they should hire the Gunners if they have synths?

[nexbil01]

 

I always imagined that the institute would put out a call for mercenaries

Why they should hire the Gunners if they have synths?

 

Well the thing is that they had no real combat experience. They're scientists after all. They hired kellogg because he knew how to get things done and now he's dead

 

They could hire the gunners and let them do the work on the surface without getting in a fight directly.

[pra]

... already have a working fusion reactor?

Obviously they were trying, and only recently came close to finish it.

 

 

... use conventional robots like protectrons and assaultrons?

They probably think: Why should we? We have synths, they are better!

 

... have cars or vertibirds?

Where would they build a vertibird? As for cars: probably same plot hole reason nobody else is using them

 

 

... talk to the enclave?

Why should they? IMO, if anything, they would be enemies.

 

... claim a chunk of the surface commonwealth and put up a wall around it?

They probably think: but it's all irradiated and dirty! Eww!

 

... do something for humanity like cure the mutants or wipe out feral ghouls?

They literally made the mutants. At least the ones in the Commonwealth. Why would they cure/exterminate them now?

As for why, I guess Todd alone knows. My headcanon is that Shaun actively hates the surface and wants to kill all humans there. Not everyone in the Institute agrees, so he tries underhanded methods, like making Super Mutants, attacking random settlements, etc.

 

 

[Stronglav]

... already have a working fusion reactor?

 

... use conventional robots like protectrons and assaultrons?

 

... have cars or vertibirds?

 

... talk to the enclave?

 

... claim a chunk of the surface commonwealth and put up a wall around it?

 

... do something for humanity like cure the mutants or wipe out feral ghouls?

 

They don't care.The only time Institute sends someone outside is to get useful salvage or tech.People who live outiside nothing to them.

the Institute is a techno fashist enclave.Only Brotherhood worse then they are.

If Im gonna do best possible ending then both Institute and BoS gotta go.

The idea of building outside some kinda base is a good one though.But Istitute is happy the way it is.

Edited November 30, 2019 by Stronglav

[dark47]

@nexbil - you ask some pretty good questions, but without mods, there's nothing we can do about it now. Hell, the whole main questline leaves me pretty much in a "blah" state, after running through it a few times. That's why I now play with thuggysmurf's collection of mods. They allow you to make choices that make more sense to me. For instance: I'm not happy with the Institute but why nuke them since they have all that tech that can really aid the Commonwealth in so many ways. The BOS? Nazis/Fascist in my book and they just piss me off. But they do have those neat Vertbirds and that big ole' flying machine, plus a surface military presence. Tame these two and the remaining factions (RR and Minutemen) fall in line. Preston can be banished or even killed if you want, and the mods give you a good reason to do one or the other. (If you need further reason that just that Preston is … Preston. Des..whatever can be talked into standing down and even sorta admires you. All told, they make for a more sensible play-through for me.

[AeonsLegend]

I'm more wondering why no one ever explains to you about what happens with the kidnappings. And why you don't get to be an actual director, but just do fetch quests for other people as if you're just an employee. Also wonder why they didn't kill the Railroad yet, because it takes like 5 minutes to find them. They even have a massive sign at the front door that indicates it's their base and the password is Railroad.