My current play:

RR: did the first quest. Current: pick up mail drop.

BoS: Helped Danse get part. Current: meet Danse at Cambridge PD.

Institute: Help retrieve a Raider synth. Current: meet at Bunker Hill.

MM: Turned over tape to Sturges. Current: Nothing I can see (Castle/Old Guns completed).

I've been spending most of my time exploring (290 locations found).

Now I'm ready to move on with the game but don't know what to do next since nothing's showing up. I'm pretty sure I'm going to stick with Minutemen.

So this leaves two possibilities: the game wants me to join BoS to make a choice or something hasn't triggered for Minutemen.

Any ideas?

PS: anyone know the total number of locations? I tried looking it up, but nothing but a few comments of people around my count.

Thanks!

The main quest doesn't start until you visit Diamond City. When you visit Nick Valentine's detective agency, it picks up from there. All of the factions are rpetty much gated until you advance the main plot to a certain point and they will stop giving you new quests.

If you're talking about Nick giving me leads to Kellog, that's been done. Do I need to talk to him again? The last time I talked to him (after doing one of the cases), he just mutters about more cases and how it's good to be back.

You can finish with Minutemen right after going to institute. Just go kill the institute until they kick you out. Or kill father. The dramatic place is on the roof after bunker hill. To kill him. Then you may need to kill or anger rr and Bo's. Then as the only option left is Minutemen vs institute. Kind of by default. You may not have to anger Bo's but... I think you can still deal with them later. You need to do more railroad first as they got some unique goods. You can do a lot of Bo's too which u may not be able to if you finish with mm now. You are at the wall on institute though pretty much. The one After bunker hill you have to stop or face consequences with Bo's doing the institute quest. If that makes sense. I'd you can end the game now but should milk railroad and could also milk the brotherhood. The minute men is triggered when you have no other options with other factions.

Sorry, Unique, but this doesn't make sense to me. Right now, I have no "enemies" between the factions. I know the game will eventually force my hand, but I don't see a reason to kill anyone at the Institute. If the game gave me a reason, that's one thing, but so far, that's not the case.

After rescuing him, I assume you do all the subsequent footwork and actually find Kellogg, cause it's after you deal with him that the plot kinda gets going, as in for example immediately after that is taken care of, the BoS come in and their plotline picks up. For other factions you have to go so far as to infiltrate the institute before their plot lines really pick up. Keep following the quest line that began with looking for and taking care of Kellogg. Sadly you do reach a point where you have to choose who to side with since these factions are diametrically opposed to one another in some way.

Kellog is dead. Has been for a long time in my game. Last weekend, I went to the Instiute. Sturges asked me to grab a holotape of the network, which I did and returned to him.

Since then, nothing.

I've been reading the forums and it's looking like I need to "choose" between RR, BoS, or Institute before the game kicks. I just want to be sure this is correct, because if not, I'm not sure what quest the Minutemen are supposed to give.

That may be by design, because the MM don't have any enemies. They're not sure about the Institute, but they don't seem to hate BoS and are "friendly" with the RR.

The Minutemen are the last resort ending triggered when you have no option to work with the other factions. If you want the Minutemen ending. Their only other missions are the castle, and repeating quests. And anything before the castle. You may be able to let the railroad or brotherhood live but their quests end once the institute is destroyed, if you so chose to destroy the institute now with the Minutemen, which you shouldn't as it looks like you have a lot of game left. To continue the quest now you have to do the brotherhood, or railroad. You can go farther with the institute but you will soon lose any hope of having any relations with the brotherhood. Which if that's ok with you go as far as you want but you will eventually have to destroy the institute if you want to do the Minutemen endong.

How's this for confusing. I ended mine a bit too early I could have done more with the institute and possibly the brotherhood. I was waiting for the railroad which couldn't trigger until after mass fusion where inst angers brotherhood. And I was at a brotherhood spot where I had to kill railroad. I should have killed railroad and continued either brotherhood or inst. instead I killed everyone. I knew I wanted to be against brotherhood and I didn't want after inst to teleport to the main deck of prydwen and get shot so I killed brotherhood on my own. I still got the mm mission to figt them but the institute probably sends you to kill them anyway. Then I could turn on institute at the last minute and go Minutemen.

Damn. That's what I figured. It's been over a week since I've visited the Institute, and I was thinking Sturges needed time to examine the tape (since other quests have me waiting a "week").

Well, I guess my game is "done", then, since I really have no desire to help the RR (dislike them since reading terminals at the Institute), no love to join the BoS (declined Danse's offer), and don't want to chase synths all the time.

I'm okay with this while I do more exploration. It's nice that synths don't attack on sight and BoS still does what they do (crashing vertibirds, mostly).

As for the RR, I had intended to kill them all, but decided to let them relish in their own ignorance.

I'll just ignore these quests for now, until I decide between BoS or Institute.

You should give the RR a second thought. They have some goodies that no one else has. And you don't have to go that far in to get them. After that who cares.