I just started Fallout4 and I'm at Level 13 right now. On my way to the slog I noticed a fortress of what appeared to be Raiders but when I VATS them I saw that they were named forged. Since I've struggled with other encounters I turned away and continued on minding my own business. Also I've tried to engage the Raiders from the Greentop Nursery quest who are held up in the mines. They too have kicked my @$$ a couple of times, So any info on the different types of Raiders and strategies for engaging them? Thanks!

Strategie is:

Kill

Loot

Return

The Forged are totally crazy, violent and very angry Better don`t go there untill you are at least level 23-25. They spam you with grenades and molotovs and there are many guys with flame-throwers. There is a boss also , not easy to kill. As I know, you can find then only in 1 location.

You also can meet Gunners( in many different locations). They are usually stronger than Raiders and have better guns and armor.

They shelter in that steel mill or forge. There's a copy of Picket Fences there allowing you to build statues in settlements, and if you get a mission from a nearby settlement, you can get the Shishkebab sword if you kill the boss and at least try to get the son to return. It's a good idea to go there with power armour or at least a decent level.

Those two places you mentioned, with the Forged and the raiders at Dunwich Borers, are some of the hardest locations for lower level characters. You'll want to wait until you're a bit more powerful before taking care of the raiders there.

By and large most raiders are the same, although most locations are independent of each other - they aren't an organized gang called Raiders all across the map... but the Gunners are organized, and they're more dangerous. Enemy encounters in general will get more difficult the further away you get from Sanctuary.

After 10 days if you have the new patch.

Raiders = Raiders

Gunners = Raiders with good gear

Forged = Raiders with fire fetish

Children of Atom = Raiders with a God (who is an atom bomb)

The Forged are just a break off faction of the raiders that are doing their own thing. They're a separate named faction just because they're more unique and have a more established purpose than the general raiders. The raiders in general aren't a faction exactly, but there is some kind of loose organization and trade system between groups of raiders. A lot of the terminals at raider camps discuss things that are going on at other raider camps. They aren't a faction in the same sense as the Gunners though. The Gunners have an actual chain of command and real organization throughout the Commonwealth. The raiders basically live in their own groups and only follow their own chains of command within their group. The Forged, the raiders at the Federal Rations Supply Depot, DB Technical School, East Boston Preparatory School and many of the other larger more established raider camps have a named leader or two, along with a loose chain of command. A lot of these groups talk about the other groups, but they aren't really 'friendly' as such. They have a loose alliance solely because it benefits them, but I'd imagine there's been a fair bit of backstabbing as a result of this alliance.

Is that in game time? I keep waiting every 48 hours to see if Rowdy is selling X-01 armor parts but after a month of waiting, the Mahkra fishpacking plant has not re-spawned the synths or the trays in the bottom of the building.

Ain't really any good loot to be found on the Forged to be honest.

The Forged are bad ass...at lower levels. I used to get sent there on minutemen quests far too soon after rescuing Preston and its not fun. Good place to farm helmeted cage and spike armours if you're into that sort of thing though. Its not the greatest armour but it looks cool. Favoured weapons are flamers and molotovs so once you're hit you're fighting blind while the flame effect wears off. I'm not sure if energy weapon resistant armour will make much of a difference against them but if so its worth looking into asbestos for your armour and upgrading your vault suit. For even more protection hop in some power armour. You'll get a shishkebab from their leader and theres a minor quest to be found at a nearby farm settlement. Never seen a legendary Forged before so dont think there are any so dont worry about one of those spawning.

Raiders - pretty easy for the most part. You shouldn't be having too much trouble with these guys no matter where you find them. Places like Hyde Park and the Corvega plant have a lot of them but they're not the hardest of enemies.

Dunwich Borers raiders - Basically raiders in combat armour with some raider parts and combat rifles. For these guys you will want to kill the raider in the trailer at the top of the pit and use the terminal to shut down the turrets, then move across the top to the other side and kill the raider in the trailer there before creeping down the slope towards the bottom and mine entrance. Be aware there is one in power armour so if you see him try to get your critical hit on his fusion core and try to take him out early. This can also get you a power armour frame as well as the raider armour parts. Dont go here at an low level, theres no shame in running away and coming back once you have some decent gear. Although they're quite spread out in the quarry they're still pretty accurate at long range so if they see you then try to hide otherwise you're going to get gunned down from all directions. The mines are a good place for legendary ghouls.

Gunners - Higher ranked ones have decent health, most have pretty solid armour and a good selection of weapons including both energy and ballistic so you'll need an armour that can protect you from both. Fortunately they're wearing combat armour so you'll be able to loot them for some nice stuff. Keep an eye out for gunners whenever you need to upgrade to a new set of armour or new guns. Be aware that this faction has access to assaultrons. Theres at least 1 in Quincy. At higher levels this becomes an Assaultron Dominator or an Invader. Dont shoot their heads as it doesn't do as much damage, instead shoot their legs to slow them down. Dont try to blow their arms off to stop their melee attacks as they'll just kamikaze you.

Children of Atom - lightly armoured compared to other factions but they have a gamma gun. This weapon does a tonne of radiation damage (so while not damaging you directly it does drastically lower your max HP with each hit so you'll need radaway and stimpacks). You wont be fighting a lot of these guys, so far I've only found a crater with some hostile ones in it (not the quest related ones which are non hostile) and small bands of them holed up in buildings being attacked by gunners. You can sit back and watch the fight then go in to kill and loot any survivors. Personally I dont like gamma guns, some people do so give them a try and see if you like them or not but ammo isn't exactly common as the stores dont sell a lot and CoA are quite rare themselves. If you do like the gamma gun its still not a primary weapon, especially since its not great against ghouls or mutants. If you insist on hunting these guys then get yourself a rad suit. I dont think you'll take as much radiation damage but the weapons can cause a lot of stagger.

The Sword, man. Iam not one of these Maniacs who use it but still a good Weapon

7 or 10 like Skyrim according to other posts on the re spawning issue. Thing is in that time, you cannot be in the same cell for them to re spawn else the timer resets. Like Skyrim also certain places could be now set to never re spawn. Saying all that I am only going by word of mouth at the moment as until Geck drops or someone takes the script apart, there is no definite proof on the issue so it may be a bug as well.

Thanks for the information, even if it is only word of mouth and not 100% confirmed. That would explain a lot at the moment. I thought about that too. Ever now and then I can lock on to a target just before going inside but there is no information on it and it won't show me the target. I wonder if maybe a synth fell threw the ground and since I am not able to kill him, it won't re-spawn the area.

raiders of didfferent factions are usually determined by their location, which is similar to a IRL concept to tribal life.

The first time, I ventured over to the "Forge" I got my ass kicked pretty good when took on the boss, but the second time around, I suited up in PA and knocked his ass off into the forge using a baseball bat.

Don't forget Kremvh's Tooth, a unique sword at a pool guarded by Dunwich Borer Project Managers turned feral ghouls. Don't dive in with power armour on. Love that sword.

Best thing about that is you can take its mod off and put it on another machete.

Go find a nice legendary machete then put the kremvh's tooth mod on it for the bleeding/poison effect as well.

One of my favourite things to do was to lure some outside Forged patrollers over to the Slog and watch the fireworks.

No! I'm not going back to that place. Never.


*shudders*