So I just beat the BoS questline and the ending didn't make much sense to me, warning this post will have spoilers for the final quest for the BoS storyline.

We took over the place, depending on the speech check we also disabled most of the Institute's synths stopping them from fighting back and this place, despite having the whole synth thing, has a lot of technology that would be useful for the BoS especially since through certain references the East Coast BoS seems more like a country (One member even literally calling it a country) then a organization.

So anyway the BoS quest ends with the BoS taking over the center of the Institute, killing everything that gets in their way and depending on speech check or hacking abilities shutting down the Synths through Shaun's terminal AND reinforcements have just arrived. Why did we blow it up? The place would be a haven for any BoS member, it's filled with literally everything the BoS strive to get and we just blow it up? In these walls is a way to feed an entire army, to fix Prydwen's energy problems, a way to efficiently teleport soldiers throughout the commonwealth and something that could end the super mutant and feral problems as well as trace down synths is right here. So why did we blow it up? It was literally in our palm, we occupied it, we controlled the entire place and had the manpower to fully occupy and set up a garrison there. Hell, it could've even become the BoS's main base of operations in the Commonwealth but for some reason we just blow it up???

I'm sorry that's kinda lazy writing and doesn't make sense, even for someone as filled with hate for the Institute as Maxson he wouldn't look passed the technological treasure trove that is the Institute.

Most of the dialog with the Brotherhood indicates there's a difference between technology they appropriate, and technology they'd rather obliterate. Synths are on the same level as FEV for them, too dangerous to fall into the hands of anyone.

This pretty much. The brotherhood makes the line between acquiring and confiscating technology pretty clear.

Right but they could just you know, shut down Synth production and use the place to focus on other things like bioscience, energy research and weaponry. I get the whole Synths are akin to the nuke ideology and somewhat agree with it but the Institute still has a lot of good research and technology that can help both the BoS's supplies, arming their troops and helping the wasteland.

Maxson says the moment you enter the Institute with him "This is what happens when science goes unsupervised" so become the force that supervises it. You have the manpower, you have the resources to control the Institute.

On the one hand, it's a lab filled with Synth abominations as well as FEV.

On the other hand, I don't think Bethesda put much thought into it other than look at the pretty nuke.

I can see the RR wanting to bomb it to kingdom come, MM and BoS should be player choice though. MM should be player choice by default whereas BoS should be a speech check.

Oh well, I guess this will problem get a mod to 'fix' it :\ wish Bethesda did allow for more choices instead of "Boom bye bye Institute."

I agree with Cider. Maxson should've taken the Institute, completely torched the synth creation womb, and carefully dismantled and destroyed the FEV lab.

But I'm kind of glad he didn't. There's no place for someplace as perfect and clean as the Institute in Fallout.

I think it would have been more realistic if the BOS had looted the place for tech and then destroyed it with conventional munitions.

As it is, I can't see any faction, not even The Railroad, setting off a nuke in metro Boston. It's just Bethesda's poorly thought out story telling.

I think it's mainly this. It's like blowing up the Enclave crawler at the end of FO3's Broken Steel. The place was COMPLETELY CLEAR of enclave forces by the time one has made their way to the top of it. It was loaded with advanced tech, and plenty of labs that were already set up for scientists to step in and use them to benefit the wasteland.


There's literally NO reasonable justification for the brotherhood to blow it up, and yet they do. Because Bethesda likes "MUH EKSPLOSUNS!!1!". It's the same thing in FO4. As soon as I saw the explosion in the E3 trailer, I knew that this was probably going to be the ending.


While it's true there was FEV a lot of synths there, which the brotherhood believes to be as bad as Aton bombs... You have to kill them all to get to the reactor (and you can shut them down), so they really aren't a problem anymore. Any remaining FEV could have been disposed of, and the synth production plants could be disabled. That leaves bioscience labs and energy labs ready to help the wasteland. But I guess the brotherhood, or MM or RR don't see it that way.

They're zealots in their own way, just like the other factions except the minutemen. Zealots don't bargain, they deal in absolutes.

I understand (and agree) with the people saying the BoS has a line beyond which technology needs to be destroyed. But given their complete lack of free will I don't see any meaningful difference between Gen 1 synths and things like Mr. Gutsy or a sentry bot. I'd think the perpetually understaffed BoS would be delighted to have such a rich source of cannon fodder to send against the super mutants and such.

Blowing up the Institute removes the temptation of future abuse.

Recall the Brotherhood's own history. Maxson sealed Mariposa and activated the defensive systems. It wasn't enough to stop Richard Grey and his team from infiltrating and becoming infected with the FEV, giving rise to the Master and the Super Mutants of the West Coast.

The Brotherhood's learned from that mistake. Now, what they don't want they deny any. The Institute's research is built on the backs and basis of Synths. I fully understand why the Brotherhood at no time even considered keeping the Institute.

I can think of 2 potential reasons. The first being like others said it's a big temptation and some future leader could decide to rebuild the synth production again.

A second potential reason could be for future story purpose. Whoever simply took over the institute effectively becomed a wasteland superpower. No doubt the Brotherhood would be used in future games (No idea about other factions.) and this way no future faction will be an obvious powerhouse that would be stupid to fight against.

Could possibly be the reasons.

I agree with the OP here, they could've just blew up the part of the institute that was in control of the synth production to stop synths from being produced again. The place is a great location to take control of, also in the following dlcs the places doesn't need to be kept cleaned if you get my drift. They could show how the faction that took over it didn't keep it clean lol.

Anyways the opposition against keeping it is moot as you can side with the institute

Its clean because apparently unlike the rest of the world in Fallout, The Institute actually pick up after themselves.

Honestly its refreshing to see some people who have some damn sense about keeping their homespace tidy and not strewn with torn papers and garbage.

the irony is thick

I think Maxson and the Brotherhood leadership consider the Institute threat to be so toxic that they want to employ scorched Earth policy against it. Whether that's an accurate assessment is a whole other can of worms, but I don't find this logic inconsistent with their ideology.

To be fair, whomever conquered the Institute would then become the Institute.

That's not how it works. Ottomans didn't become the Byzantines when they conquered Constantinople. The Institute would become BoS, RR or MM.

in the next dlc we will have bethesda acknowledge us by whatever faction we side with saying "maybe we shouldn't have blown up the institute, that place wouldve made a good base of operation"