Hi Gang,

So this playthrough I'm shooting for the ending where the most possible factions grudgingly live together...

...but I've been asking for money from the BOS and Minutemen villagers because Cait likes it (what can I say, right? Apparently my character is pretty smitten).

I'm about 20 hours into it after telling the BOS guy, "I needs to git paid" to help with Arcjet, and I'm wondering if I'm wrecking my chances at a somewhat peaceful and stable Commonwealth in order to please the cute little red haired girl with the 10gauge.

Any thoughts?

You should be fine, I don't think those quests will affect things.

Not at all. It will take more than being a mercenary to wreck your chances at a somewhat peaceful and stable Commonwealth. Finishing the game with the Railroad on the other hand will make things extremely difficult for a somewhat peaceful and stable Commonwealth. The other endings are far better alternatives. Although I do suggest play through all 4 endings.

And if you really want to gain approval with Cait fast just get naked and fast travel. I travelled between Abernathy Farm and Sanctuary Hills and each time I got approval from her.

You're fine. You can complete the Railroad quests up to Underground Undercover, the BOS quests up to (but not including) Tactical Thinking, and the Institute quests up to Mass Fusion and maintain three factions at the end. Then just do the Minutemen ending. Defend the Castle causes Tactical Thinking to fail without making anyone hostile.

Note that there's a writeup/video of how to get this ending floating around...and it's basically nonsense. People keep sharing it as though it's the ONLY way to get this ending, but it's ridiculously over complicated. It forces you to do things in a rigid order and skip a ton of quests, and none of it is necessary.