Why is the institute making synths at all, I mean I get the need for a menial labor force, but isn't that the equivalent of using a stealth bomber as a passenger plane. Besides spying on the surface all of the rest could be done by less advanced machines. I mean for combat sure synths are sort of efficient.


This is coming from an institute player too.

Yeah, really not seeing the point of using Gen 3 as household labour.

Because they could.

The meta reason is to bring a Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep/"Blade Runner" vibe in to the Fallout Universe lore. What does it mean to be human and What is a human questions are added but not fully explored. My issue is that it is not handled as well as it could have been from a narrative perspective, more could have been done with this . (My apologizes for belaboring the point)

Synths are made so they can be liberated!


Go Railroad!

Well why build them with feelings that seems counterproductive.

The problem is that the gen 3 synths were given the ability to have emotions and learn on their own. The Institute refuses to see past the "property" and find that they have indeed created sentient beings. And I hate that as the new director, I can't put the faction on a path that fixes a lot of these social issues. I suppose head canon is going to be it.

Especially when real humans can be made with cheap, unskilled labor.

Why is the "Institute of Technology", whose sole purpose is to create new technological marvels, creating better and better robots? So one reason is scientific: they seek to advance technology, of all kinds. And the CIT was always, even before the war, the center of robotics research. Even the RobCo company, one of leading robot manufacturers in pre-war USA, was founded by one of their students.

And they had no reason to abandon those ideals, as the technology they create makes them stronger.

Another is practical: Gen3 Synths are the most perfect robots out there. They are almost like humans, but easily programmable which makes them better than clones. And they DID prove to be extremely useful to the secretive Institute: they can be used to easily gather provisions (which Institute needs), infiltrate enemy factions, control political landscapes, etc. The whole program might also allow the Institute to restore the wildlife, thus bringing them a step closer to restoring Earth as it used to be.

Now see, Automatron actually throws a very interesting kink into that belief system, because it introduces the fact RobCo and General Atomics were utilizing "Personality Modes" for their models to be better at Human interaction. And personalities are something that can be switched off when desired. That's now gone to ground in my head, where I seriously have to question if the Gen 3s are legitimately sapient (Even your base line Protectron is sentient, after all), or if they're just high functioning Chatbots.

I like Ada, Codsworth, and Curie well enough. But now I know that those aren't independent personalities that evolved over time...those are overlays to existing subroutines to facilitate and foster Human interaction. Now I can't be certain when Codsworth is at the Castle talking about learning from history if he's legitimate...or if it's just a canned routine designed to "humanize" him to potential owners.

The only good thing is Nick is still Nick.

There never was a point. They got mentioned in f3 so they made them the focus of f4 despite having no plot written. There is no explanation in game for why synths exist and they are inferior to prewar robots on every level.

Well gen 1 & 2 Synths are just humanoid robots. most also seem to have less personality than the existing robots so they are primarily useful as janitorial, general heavy labourers and as cannon fodder when needed......of course all of their roles could have been filled by existing robots.

Gen-3s however make excellent recon and covert ops assets since they can potentially infiltrate any human community, the coursers make (mostly) dependable wet work operatives and the general worker types fill the robot worker roles while blending into the human population and are (mostly) dependable slave labour which can simply be reprogrammed and transferred into other roles when needed.

Machines by itself can already feel emotions and develop independent thinking, just like with Codsworth and Curie. Synths are just basically machines that look like humans and some hippies start to think that they're humans now that the machines have a new coat of paint that make them look humans while ignoring all the other robots that could also develop feelings and independent thoughts. The Institute's robots are just happened to be more advanced AI.

The Institute makes robots that look like humans to make them easier to infiltrate the surface to spy and gather information. Having humanoid body allows them to carry out certain tasks easier, like manual labors, carrying stuffs and things like that. These robots can also be used to replace family members and nanny for the children. Eve was used as a sort of mother replacement for the young children who don't have parents.

"No, I'm not a machine. I'm a human just like you!" ~Major McDonough on his accusations that he was replaced by a Sentry Bot.

The robots can't be used in espionage like this (which is what Institute mostly uses Gen3's for). It's exactly the use of Gen3 Synths in espionage is exactly what earned the Institute the title of "Boogie-man" as identifying a Synth is impossible until you kill them.

Combat-wise, Gen3 Synths can also be made superior to other robots: one Courser is able to take down an entire organized army, on their home territory and all that while they were expecting him with missile launchers, other kinds of heavy weaponry, traps and turrets. And he went through like a breeze.

And to supplement those fighting capabilities, the Coursers always have near human-level of mental capacity and as such will always be capable to deal with unexpected problems. On other hand, a robot would get caught in an endless loop, do something stupid (but logical to him due to his programming) or start glitching.

Also, there is a big fallacy with some people here: Synths aren't supposed to replace robots, but humans. So you won't be using a Synth to do stuff that a robot would. You would use them to do stuff that a human would.

Why replace humans at all?

Coursers get destroyed by prewar military bots. Institute spends all its resources making six dolls instead of actually doing anything productive.

According to gameplay or according to lores? Coursers are secret agents that can kill a gang of raiders by themselves, most people don't live to tell the tales encounter them if Virgil were to believe.

Because the Institute does not have enough population to use human soldiers, human spies, etc., not to mention that they don't have a reason to put their own lives on the line when they have Synths.

Gameplay is NEVER a basis for lore anolysis. A Courser is gameplay-wise barely stronger than a Gunner, but lore-wise they are capable of slaughtering an entire army of Gunners (as shown in Hunter/Hunted quest).

A single Courser wrecked the [censored] out of a entire company of heavily armed gunners. Let's see a sentry bot do the same.


Oh wait...it wouldn't fit through the door.

The Institute doesn't have the manpower - literally - to influence the Commonwealth in a meaningful way. Synths - especially Gem 3 Synths - give the Institute a presence topside they'd never have otherwise. Not simply for intelligence gathering and salvage, but also recruitment. A big part of why the Institute infiltrates communities with Synths is to evaluate potential candidates to be brought to the Institute itself - thereby enhancing their own gene pool as well as knowledge without undo risk to existing Institute members.

Recall Kellogg's memories where he met with a live representative of the Institute. Consider the enormous risk the Institute ran with meetings like those, even with Gen 1 Snyth backup. Any meeting that turned sour would result in the loss of a Institute mind, not only denying the enclosed population a genetic legacy (Though I suspect those selected to "face" for the Institute were already parents to ensure no catastrophic loss of genetic material), but a better then average mind as well.

The Gen 3 breakthrough - made possible thanks to genetic material harvested from Shaun - a pre-war baby with zero radiation damage to his cells, something not even the Institute's population could boast - allow the Institute to be more covert and at the same time more bold with its actions in the Commonwealth and beyond. They can finally start influencing the world around them.

This is actually why my subsequent playthroughs have been anti-Institute. In my first play, I toed the line and accepted my son's wishes and became Director and sort of rationalized the whole Synths are sentient belief. But in later plays, I realize that the only Institute foes I face ~are~ Synths. The only non-Synths are basically scientists and their families. So I issue the evac order, get those dozens of humans out and then just nuke the place full of scrap metal and 3-D printed organics (the room where they 'build' a Synth is pretty neat). In every other end-game fight, I am forced to kill a LOT of humans and in the case of the BoS, ~children~ are aboard the Prydwyn.

So even if I liked the Institute, fighting them is the lesser of two evils based on casualty counts. Of course, having said that, I DID take Synth-Shaun with me... really was torn about that, because I felt like he's just ~made~ to manipulate me from the grave by my bastard son. But he ~sounded~ so sincere. I recalled how Father had shut him down when we first met (and Synth-Shaun did not know me, even)... and how he was JUST a cobbled-together ~thing~.... but I relented in the end. There were some terminal / dialog hints that he might be emotionally more advanced than previous Synths so ~maybe~ he and Curie and Codsworth could sort of make a family ~without~ me.

In a way, their reliance on Synths (back to the topic at hand) served to ~endanger~ the Institute. At least, they were in more danger from ME, since I knew there were fewer ~real~ humans who would be affected by my actions (and I can safely just usher them to safety and I even promised Elder-Shaun I would protect and integrate them into above-ground society).

Casualty count, Railroad resulted in the highest casualty, especially among the innocent. BoS and Institute both resulted in roughly around the same casualty. Although in context, the Institute will help more people than they actually kill in the long run with the advanced technology. I rather think about the future than what I have to do in necessity. You can evacuate the Institute, but most Institute people would either die in the fire, die from the raiders and supermutants or lacking the skills to survive, so just because you don't kill them directly don't mean you didn't kill the Institute. Liam was basically said all of his family and friends are gone or disappeared. Even with the Institute's attack on the BoS, it takes a while, and during that time, Maxson has time to send down vertibirds down to attack you, if they can send down vertibirds to attack you, then they could have easily evaculate the BoS children if they so choose, if they didn't, then the fault is on them as if holding the BoS children hostage or something. It wasn't my fault if they decide to not evacuate the children with the vertibird and decide to attack me with those vertibird instead, it's likely the BoS has already evacuate the BoS innocents out of the way before I destroy their ship, so I don't know where you get the Institute has the highest body counts.

We aren't given information about the Institute's evacuation plan. They could very well have teleported to a secondary site and are fully operational but have gone quiet. I certainly would have planned it that way as the director or their board. I think the Institute is guilty of nothing more than following a technology development cycle beyond its original need. They have a solution that it is far more capable then they ever imagined they could field. They have no justification for the whole gen 3 line unless they plan to actively replace wasteland humans with synths they can control. I believe they have written off all the survivors for all practical purposes. Their synth production capability far exceeds what they could possibly need for maintaining and improving their underground research center. In other words, they have a hammer, a really good hammer, so everything else is a nail.

Most people inside the Institute don't know what the surface look like, they have never been outside and many don't even know what the surfacers look like. There is no evidence of a secondary place, especially when they're confident they're safe and their long term plan is to stay down there forever. They live down there most their life. If someone blow up the U.S., there is no secondary place because we don't expect our home to be blown up. There is no evidence of a secondary site, they have never been up there, there is no mention of it inside the Institute. That possibility is almost zero. Despite how evil Father is, he specifically mentions he doesn't want the surfacers to get the wrong idea about the Institute, so I doubt his idea is to wipe out all the surfacers or replacing them all with synths. Again, there is a difference between gameplay and lore mechanics. They synth production could be repeated and quick so you could see it in action, with how long the Institute exists, vs. the production, they would likely have millions of them by now, not to mention the raw materials required to create them. If they could make that many, they wouldn't have care if some synths got captured and need to be rescued. There is an entire division dedicated to bring back synths. Lore wise, I'm certain there is a limit to synth production.

This is not my Idea but the phrasing is

SImple if you are banging a protectatron everyones all look ohh fetishist, sick mechrophiliac.

Bang a synth and eveyrones like ehh ok I can see it....

A big commune of lonely and perhaps shy nerds and whats gonna happen..... Ya

BBM- SIR, I am not a hippy. (best said in a cartman voice)