Here's a question I have related to memory wiping and failsafes. Supposing A3-21 was bound by Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics, but then he went and memory wiped himself to the point of thinking himself human, would he still be bound by them? I'd imagine that would be hardcoded into him, just the same way his "factory reset phrase" was.

Definitely not to him; isn't it possible for him to kill Zimmer even after you bring back his android memories? Not to mention he's the chief of security for Rivet City anyway.

And besides, most robots in the wasteland are bloodthirsty killing machines. I don't think Asimov's rules apply here. If they do apply to enslaved androids, I'm hoping for at least one reference to an android "going maverick".

I was just using him as an example, since he's the only one we have to go on for this whole "human except the gears with false memories" thing.

Zimmer, if informed of his identity, says that it makes sense that A3-21 took the position of security chief, given he used to work for the Commonwealth Police, so it's possible he had been programmed to be a law enforcer.

How does it not? An obvious machine wouldn't have the ability to investigate as humans wouldn't trust it enough to give it information. A machine that appears human has a far greater chance of learning things from humans that could lead to the other androids capture.

Harnkess WAS a superior machine though. Zimmer outright says this.

It also has a much easier time of blending in with the locals if it ever decides to try and escape, something Zimmer should have planned for considering that escaping androids is apparently so rampant that an entire agency dedicated to their recovery had to be established. The only humans I'd see giving a damn about the android hunting androids is members of the Railroad. I don't anyone else would be that bothered by the looks of the androids and their affairs.

He could just as easily have programmed it to pretend to want to run away so that the Railroad would find it, and then have it signal to the Institute where they were so they could get the data about their missing property and catch their confederates in one fell swoop. And he'd have an easier time drawing the Railroad out if, you know, the android looked like an android, not a human.

I'm really getting this vibe considering the setting, Doctor Li, and commonwealth / replicated man subquest from FO3. The main quest will be all about androids, their humanity, ethics and oppression. Calling it now.

If we are androids i will try one playthough as Arnold look
A like if possible

I'll be pretty bummed out if the factions are the black and white. I hope they learn from NV and change things up: the enclave good? BoS bad? I dug that. Also, while I feel you can argue that the NCR is more "morally good" than the Legion, it's a long way from being a "good faction". FNV's toss up was more like a choice between a bad but effective faction and a grey faction that serves as more of a means to an end.

Old post, but incidentally the closest I can think of would be the Mega Man Zero series. You play as Zero, a reploid (replicate android, but no real difference) sealed away for centuries in an underground laboratory. You get unsealed by the human Ciel, a scientist and leader of an underground resistance against a dystopian society called Neo Arcadia. You do have amnesia but you're still a badass killing machine, and the setting isn't post-nuclear (but very post-apocalyptic), but the plot is about a terrible energy crisis that causes a schism between humans and Reploids so it's kinda close? It's a lot more convoluted than that (and the series actually has the most cohesive story arc of any Mega Man spin-off), but that's the general idea.

Of course, there are plenty of concepts that would not be hard to fit into the Fallout universe. A hero that was sealed away centuries ago? A dystopian society of sheltered humans that fears and hates the Wasteland? An energy crisis? An underground resistance led by a scientist that's trying to end the energy crisis? Rhetorical questions? I almost wouldn't mind if there were similarities between Mega Man Zero and Fallout 4...

Indeed they would not, one would probably consider just using human intelligence like people have since the dawn of time rather than creating an artificial human being, so realistic, that he is able to fool himself and others into thinking he's human.

you just want to shake that fellows hand

Holy moly I missed that!

All these android talk reminds me of a PC & previous-gen console shooter game with a story by a Japanese studio, I forgot the name of the game, but the story is about humans being silently replaced by androids whom didn't know they are androids. As I played along, I was thinking to myself, "Am I playing an android?" "Or maybe that helpful NPC is an android?" "What if my best friend is an android?"

Now that I think of it, it reminds me of how I felt while watching and playing The Thing.

Then they'll have more to fear from me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHE-Gk_KTgk

I expect to see a lot of different revisions of androids.
We are never told that all of the androids at the Institute are like Harkness.
Androids, thematically are much more interesting than simply being tagged as a blade runner reference.
It's true you have the aspect of the android's sentience causing equality issues. But you also have the underlying theme (much the same as a nuclear technology) of how far man is willing to go to play god. Will you create something that can benefit mankind? Or will it be weaponized, and/or blow up in your face for a myriad of reasons?
Are older models cast out, to rust out in the wastes, on the island of misfit 'droids? Are there "hackers" out there trying to take over androids for really any number of reasons?

In fact, Zimmer and others say that Harkness had some unique and impressive tech in him, which could imply that other androids are not exactly like him and could vary greatly.

Star Trek managed to handle the concept of sapient AI pretty well.

If I am not mistaken, Harkness doesn't initially think that he is able to fool himself about anything, though. Not until his mind wipe. With that in mind, the criteria for fooling himself may have been a consideration taken into account by Pinkerton.

He is all about his job it seems. So I doubt he has much in the way interpersonal relationship wise to really ever get close enough to notice if anything might be a bit off.

Though, I will say, if the spy route is indeed in play, making them mimic a human to the point of bleeding seems pretty logical.
They may want that spy to be an android because they would (hopefully) have unwavering allegiance, would not really fatigue, and could possibly have a much better mind for retaining information, including things like audio and video playback. Or, imagine giving a spy plant a backstory that is authentic, because the android believes the memories that have been implanted and doesn't even realize they are a spy.

It's good to see that some people are looking beyond the obvious black-and-white Railroad Vs Institute situation and references to past films and novels; hopefully BGS have done the same.

I would like the Railroad/Institute story not to be the focus of the main quest, but rather a major side-quest like the Skyrim civil war. And as with that scenario, have no clearly defined "right" or "wrong" decision, just a choice based on in-game experience and personal opinion. Add in the simple possibility that the PC may be an android (something that would never be actually confirmed or denied), and there is scope for some great stories genuinely difficult decision-making.

As for the physical appearance of the androids, I suspect we'll see various "generations", with older versions relegated to menial tasks and not "maintained" (i.e. they would be obviously not human and may have visible defects, like the guy in the trailer). I wonder if we might even see some very early attempts, say using adapted Power Armor suits as the "body".

Well obviously not, because he knows he's an android. He needs false, human memories to believe that he's real (though how one digitises memory is a matter for another day).


I can agree to that, it would certainly make more sense to me. Like in his own head he is just purely unmotivated by six but in-reality its because it can't be coded.


No I agree, I can see the logic behind it entirely. He's the perfect sleeper agent really. I personally wonder though whether the considerable expense was worth it when surely a human agent could perform just as-well - especially as Androids are known by the time of Harkness's creation to defect.

That and, of-course, I just don't like the technology itself. I can see the reasoning behind it, I'm just not sure on the in-universe justification and certainly not on the technology required.

I can respect you not liking the tech.

As for the androids being known, I'm not so sure we can make a huge claim on Harkness models being well known. It is true that someone is looking for him in F3, in a lab setting, where I consider it to be information given because you are the PC, and you seem like someone who could help, unlike a lot of the local yokels. We still have no idea of how many of that variant were made. The picture of the andriod shown taken from the trailer, looks humanoid, but his robotics are showing. So, while there is a need to hunt down androids, how many are humanoid and sentient or malfunctioning, but couldn't pass for humans anyway?

I am definitely optimistic that there will be many differing versions of robots, though.

Hostile Synths were in the E3 footage.

From the look of it, they're pretty freaky looking.

http://i.imgur.com/nnBDRSk.jpg, you damn abolitionists.