There's been plenty of Alt-Start ideas lately, but I've noticed that all of them try to create a completely new backstory. Something that isn't really feasible without gutting out a LOT of dialogue in the game. In another thread, I came up with a version that allows for an alternate-ish start and lets you skip a majority of the intro tedium, yet keeps the spirit of the main quest going. It takes from cues from Live Another Life and Random Start.

Basically, after the intro cinematic, you start in a room very similar to the memory-viewing scene with kellogg. Instead of memories however, there are three rooms in sequential order.

1. First room is a bathroom. It has a mirror. This is used to select your character's appearance and gender. It can be activated to change them if you change your mind.


2. Second room has either a Vault-Tech rep or a "YOUR SPECIAL" book on it. Either way the effect is the same: Activating him/it brings up the name and SPECIAL menu.


3. Third room has a terminal on it. The terminal explains the backstory:
   
   "My name is (insertnamehere), and this is my story so far. I thought after the mess in Anchorage I/my husband could retire from the army. Settle down with the wife/husband, maybe go to CIT and get a degree, get a job. Be a family. The American dream and all that. But then those A-Holes decided to drop the bombs. So me and my family ran to Vault 111... only to be frozen in time in a cryogenic capsule. It got worse... at some point, me and my wife/husband were unfrozen by some people. They took our infant son, shaun, and murdered my husband/wife. They refroze me, but some time later I got out. I left Vault 111, and now I am..."

At this point the terminal has a variety of choices. I'm sure whoever picks this up can think of more, but I'll list a few I thought of.

• "Outside of Vault 111, seeing the ruined world for the first time." (Starts you outside of vault 111)


• "Fighting raiders in Concord, when a man on a balcony yells for my help" (starts you in concord with the raiders outside dead and about to start preston's quest)


• "Trying to get into diamond city" (starts you right outside of diamond city's gate)


• "Drowning my sorrows in a bar" (pick a bar)


• "Wandering around aimlessly with no direction whatsoever" (picks a random location)


• "In nick's office explaining my story to the synth detective" (Starts you in nick's office, Unlucky Valentine already completed)


• "About to murder that SOB Kellogg and find out where they took my son!" (main quest up untill the confrontation with kellogg completed)


• "Taking my first steps inside of the Institute." (Main quest up until institutionalized completed)


• "About to join Paladin Danse on a mission to Arcjet systems" (self explainatory)


• "Boarding the Prydwen with my mentor, Paladin Danse" (Skips main quest up untill shadow of steel, already joined BOS)


• "At the end of the Freedom Trail" (starts you under the church at the railroad puzzle door)

After you select one on the terminal, a door appears. Activating it will give you a "are you sure this is what you want?" prompt, selecting yes will start you off on your chosen scenario. You will be equipped with random items based on what scenario you chose.


(ALT IDEA: choosing a particular scenario could also cause a locker object to appear and give you a certain amount of credits. Much like the overdue book object it lets you exchange credits for gear. selecting weapons will give you 3 clips worth of ammo for that particular weapon. Selecting no armor will spawn you with a vault suit and selecting no weapon will spawn you with a defeault 10mm. You can also "buy" levels this way, which will give you enough XP for one level up so you aren't starting at L1 if... say you choose the kellogg option.)