Thinking about making a mod that moves the "Railroad HQ" to a differnt location after they have been "found" by the BoS. Any location

[Zorkaz]

Vault 114 has two exist, the exit leads to the streets, shortyl after you have dealt with Skinny Malone

[TheVampireDante]

Vault 114 has two exist, the exit leads to the streets, shortyl after you have dealt with Skinny Malone

That's the maintenance exit I mentioned, you still need to get out of the Vault door to reach it.

[Zorkaz]

Really? Ok then.

 

I mean you could create custom sewers for it.

 

Or use the BigDig cells for it, there's plenty of underground space

[Manhattan2112]

 

Oh, the obvious choice to me seems like the secret government installation in the glowing sea. Deacon even mentions it when you walk in there with him. I've been *dying* for a mod that relocates the railroad there. It makes so much sense! There's so much space and tech and it's so well hidden.

Ooooowwww!

That is a PERFECT idea!

 

Because guess what location a certain scientist uses to hide from the institute? Yes, the glowing sea!

 

It is the PERFECT place to hide!

It is big, it is dangerous, the radiation would probably interfere with the teleportation stuff of the institute, .....

 

There is already a secret pre-war base there, so I might use that interior cell for this!

 

(Now I am all excited about this project again, thank you!)

 

Oh, dang, I'm so glad that you like that idea. I don't really know how to do a lot of modding stuff. I've modded interior spaces before, and item values, character factions, and stuff, but I have no idea how to do anything so intricate like this, so I'm rooting for you.

 

There are people in this thread who have some good points about why this location ISN'T the right choice and I wanna make a brief argument for it:

 

Idk, yes it's well hidden

1. But you have to walk a thousand dangerous kilometres to this location and hardly any resources can be brought there.

This also means getting information from people in DC and GN will be hard

 

2. There are deathclaws, radscorpions (and radiation storms) at your front door, which might be worse than having a courser around

 

3. Your drinking water is polluted and food is scarce.

The railroad's current setup is in a catacomb, which, from a utility standpoint, makes absolutely no sense to me. It's clear that any computer equipment they have, they dragged down into that catacomb. What is the strategic advantage of this? That space isn't outfitted for secrecy, or surveillance, or recon, or even particularly defensible. It's easy to stumble into and it's not hard to fight your way through. When Deacon sees the surveillance center in the Glowing Sea he says something like "We call this a failure of intelligence" which implies that this is not someplace they're not brave enough to venture out to, but rather some place they legitimately didn't know existed.

 

The surveillance center is actually relatively north, too, considering how far south the glowing sea is. It's not totally unreasonable that some tough folks could march together down there and clear the space out. They don't want discovering their location to be easy.

 

When you play for the Brotherhood, Brotherhood soldiers are somehow able to get all the way down to that freaking missile launch site and they make it seem like they kick ass and wreck s*** all the way there. Which is ridiculous, because it's so far south and so, so dangerous.

 

I know that Institute Synths canonically discover (and spawn in) that location, which implies it isn't safe, but, uh, couldn't we just disable those synths from spawning? And pretend like the Institute does not know it exists? I mean we're already modding the game. Plus, there are two defense protectrons down there that we could mod to be non aggressive, or aligned with the Railroad faction, or whatever, which would be a great little way to increase Railroad defenses.

 

 

 

 

Problem with Vault 114 is that there's only one entrance/exit from inside the vault.

 

Railroad likes having escape exits they can easily get to, I doubt they'd use somewhere that doesn't have access to such an escape. Needing to file out the vault door to reach the station exits or the maintainence exit you use leaves them open to getting caught.

 

Also: the secret government installation has an elevator and a hatch built into a cabin! Twoooo exits!

 

 

I think maybe the biggest arguments against this are that the Railroad no longer being in the thick of the Commonwealth might make their literal job of helping synths escape more difficult, and harder for them to stay in contact with Bunker Hill, but I'm not actually so hung up on that. They're supposed to be, like, all covert and secret agent-y. They've got more eyes in the Commonwealth than they tell you. Also, the argument that it's far away from sources of food and water are important, yes. Maybe you could add to the mod some kind of makeshift hydroponic garden space that they set up to grow mutfruit and stuff, kind of like how 81 has, just to imply that they're not totally without resources.

 

This is something I've got a lot of enthusiasm about, lol. I wish I knew how to do it myself, so I could just jump right on it. I thought that space was so underwhelming and underutilized considering how cool it is. It's shabby, clearly 200 years old, but still relatively fantastically preserved. The Railroad deserves to not live in an actual crypt sleeping on mattresses on a dusty floor.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Manhattan2112

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

Well this brings up the whole "Security / Convenience" tradeoff:

If something is secure, it is not convenient.

If something is convenient, it is not secure.

[TheVampireDante]

 

Also: the secret government installation has an elevator and a hatch built into a cabin! Twoooo exits!

 

That outpost is a decent location to use, it's not too far in (also still a fair distance from the populated areas they might need access to), it's fairly secluded - two exits as you've mentioned (even if they are unfortunately right next to each other on the surface). The central design of the main area is easy enough to defend should someone attack, if a little exposed should top level defenses being taken down.

 

Power isn't an issue there from what I recall, so setting up grow beds and communication equipment would be simple enough. Plenty of space for the main crew plus visitors.

 

Few hazards of setting up in the Glowing sea:

 

The radiation.

 

Obviously a major concern. Traveling around the area risks greater exposure, and Gen 3 synths are still susceptible to rad damage.Getting around this would involved a decent supply of hazmat suits and anti-radiation meds. Enough for two trips each synth and of course a permanent allotment for the handlers/runners/guards bringing supplies, reports and any new recruits/synth runaways through the area.

 

There's enough intact interior areas to lessen this, and if decontamination arches are fitted, then secondary exposure is mostly negated.

Would likely need a secure stash or a smaller secondary outpost to house the travel supplies outside the borders of the glowing sea that is hidden enough to remain unseen to outsiders despite the repeat traffic.

 

The wildlife and human threats.

 

There's a massive increase in hazardous creatures within the Glowing Sea. Including a fairly large Deathclaw population roaming around. Ferals, Radscorpions, bloodbugs all risk user injury, or suit damage.

Secure (and therefore traceable) routes created to avoid the majority of this would be an issue.

 

Molerats tunneling into locations risks exposure not only to the animals themselves, but the toxic atmosphere leaking in from outside if they leave a clear tunnel - might also provide access to radscorpions.

 

Synth and brotherhood patrols are an obvious problem, since both have their sights on the area what with Synth scavenger teams looting locations - and repeated loss of these patrols in one area is going to draw attention in one form or another.

I'd guess at occasional vertibird flyovers by Brotherhood teams to check for any threats emerging from the area, or for resources to use would also be problematic for anyone crossing the border into the glowing sea.

 

Brotherhood also tends to check for power hotspots and communication signals, so transmissions to/from other areas would be a risk.

 

Any group spotted heading there is a likely target anyway, even if it's just from raiders (who tend to brag to others about their attacks, so word spreads) or Children of Atom Zealots if they choose to be hostile (like most are to outsiders).

Gunners might be a problem from anyone unfortunate enough to need to approach from that directly, but that's a small issue and would hopefully be avoided unless no other choice remains.

 

Surprisingly little issue from super mutants though.

 

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Another location to consider, despite it being a vault (of sorts) the Mayor's shelter. Again it's mostly out of the way and could be disguised further to appear inaccessible to outsiders. Easily defensible and with the hole the Deathclaw broke in with by the gym, there's a secondary access point that could be made usable without being too obvious from outside.

 

Plenty of rooms and general facilities (water, power). The gym could be converted to hydroponics, or a training area. There's areas for workshops, storage and of course living quarters.

 

Not too many enemies in the area outside to give runners serious trouble. Mostly ferals in the nearby locations if I recall, which can be avoided for the most part anyway.

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

I think the biggest problem is the institute.

 

Because what enemy do you find when you enter that location?

Synths!

 

So, the institute already knows of that location ...

[TheVampireDante]

They turn up most places that would make decent hideouts. Mainly because those locations are usually good salvage points.

 

University point, the mayors' shelter, arcjet, The fishpacking place, fort Hagen (obviously), in former railroad safehouses (and near them) - and they turn up at the abandoned shack outpost too.

 

Parson's Asylum would have made a fairly large place that might've worked, but of course there's the Cabot matter. Perhaps after that's dealt with?

Pickman's home if he was cleared out - it has a secondary exit too that comes out a fair distance away. Plus the main door is reasonably hidden from view as it is.

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

They turn up most places that would make decent hideouts. Mainly because those locations are usually good salvage points.

 

University point, the mayors' shelter, arcjet, The fishpacking place, fort Hagen (obviously), in former railroad safehouses (and near them) - and they turn up at the abandoned shack outpost too.

 

Parson's Asylum would have made a fairly large place that might've worked, but of course there's the Cabot matter. Perhaps after that's dealt with?

Pickman's home if he was cleared out - it has a secondary exit too that comes out a fair distance away. Plus the main door is reasonably hidden from view as it is.

Uuuhh!

I like the idea of using Parson's as a base!

It is a freaking huuuuuuge building (the exterior, I mean, I would of course rework the interiors to match the exterior).

And maybe the "technology" that was used to keep that Cabot guy from using his alien-power could be used somehow to disrupt the institute teleportation signal, IDK ...

 

Interesting stuff to think about ...

 

 

And I like "Pickman's":

Hiding right next to the "old" hideout, classic!

[pharo3331]

How about VAULT 88 if you haven't done that quest you have the option of taking over the vault by either killing the ghoul overseer or sending her packing [obviously a few other annoyances like a mirelurk queen but once cleared they do not respawn ] ... apart from being one of the largest build areas it has two entrances/exits albeit one by University Point and I'm sure there is someway around that [ the Pharmacy could be used as a secret front] ... In my last playthrough I killed all the raiders at Quincy Quarries and scrapped the spawn points for the remaining two who do respawn and you have a giant space with which to play around ... Being a person of a certain vintage I'm no expert in these matters and it may or may not be a solution but I think it would be worth investigating ... Good luck with whichever place you decide ....