Doing some random exploring, and ran across a raider camp. They were pretty well established in an underground bunker, so I decided to take 'em out and see what there was to grab. Got to the end and took out the named Raider boss lady...and found a bunch of letters from her sister and a terminal with entries talking about the situation.

It made me realize something. Am I being a Raider myself? I mean, I just came in, wiped out a "settlement," took their stuff, when they were potentially just a group of people trying to survive.

The game calls 'em raiders, and makes 'em automatically hostile, so in gamer logic they're the "bad guys." But perhaps from their perspective, I'm the bad guy. I love how Bethesda gave even Raiders (who, from all accounts prey on the weak and are thus bad people from the get-go) a human side. There's something there we can sympathize with, even if in any mindset they needed to be dealt with.

I also wish I had the option of talking them down and potentially joining the Minutemen, since I'm trying to rebuild that organization. But in either case, it was just a neat little encounter that had more to it than met the eye.

By the way, if anyone knows the place I'm talking about, and knows if there's anything about the Raider boss' sister, I'd love a spoiler-lite "Yeah, you find out more if you go here" or something like that.

From what I understand, they are at 'war' with another Raider gang at the Lucky Shamrock Brewery. Reading a terminal there gives the other half of the story.

What I do like is that what appear to be individual groups are actually allied with others, part of a larger group based in several locations or at war with other groups.

Yeah, after all the criticisms that the world-building of the Capital Wasteland was crap, they went to elaborate lengths to undo that. Raiders are more like the Khan/Great Khans now with histories, backstories, and more.

What's better?

If you go to the Gwynett Brewery across the river, you'll find out what happened to her sister.

Hitting the Gwynett Brewery at the end of the game is also kind of crazy as the Raiders there keep a watch on all the other Raider gangs. The letters on the terminal start with, "Okay, things are going pretty poorly for everyone. Too many Raiders, too little targets. We're starving." Then there's a bunch of increasingly concerned messages as one after another, he lists, "named" Raider gangs which have been wiped out by someone (you the player).

The Corvega one is, "What the hell is going on!? These were the biggest gang in the Commonwealth! WHO IS DOING THIS!?"

Yeah, I got that after reading the terminal in the bunker. There are all of these little background storylines you'll never see unless you take the time to find 'em. I've heard complaints that the Commonwealth felt bland, and I'm not sure where they're getting that feeling. Each place isn't really just it's own little island in the middle of the wasteland, there's connections and storylines. Even the raiders who attack the Minutemen group in Concord are either a part of the Corvega group, or allied with them. (You get the Corvega storage key off the named raider in that attack).

Subtle stuff, yes, but makes you feel like you're just one piece in a much larger "story."


From the first terminal, I kinda had an idea what happened to the sis, so I can't say I'm surprised, really. I'm really enjoying seeing stuff that makes the world feel alive, and how it reacts to what you do. Granted, they're relatively small things I've seen so far, but there's a fair bit of reactivity going on so far.

Well let's see. Let's look at a game like Alien isolation that does the whole "Shoot strangers on sight" thing.

Yea... at that point I stop caring and aim down my sights. If people don't even try to talk first, they're out of line. Period. Be it out of hate or fear. And they shoot before you even step foot in their place. Simple as that. More games should offer more diplomacy and talking out of "hey there, explain yourself" and such. What I'd like to know is, which raider idiots try to take on someone in power armor and minigun with another companion that has the same gear? Tempting loot? Certainty. Possible to get with pipe weapons? Hell no!

I found the other side of this story at Beantown Brewery, myself. I wonder if it's random?

I too felt the same way about those raiders. But I felt bad about the alien after the crash. I'm not sure how many noticed this but there's a blood trail that leads you to the cave. If you sneak into the cave you can see the alien is hurt. I kind of wished there was a quest to help him and the reward would've been to get the alien blaster. I felt bad shooting him.

I think it's the Beantown brewery and I just got it wrong.

Lots of Breweries in this game which all produce Gwynith Stout.

OP, you just gave me something to chew on over coffee this fine turkey day.

I suppose on one hand, me was coming out of the blue unprovoked and dealing out the usual Fallout Justice does make me something of a jerk. On the other hand, if I were to just walk up and go "Hey, heys, top o' the mornin' to---" I'd be getting shot at before I got to 'you'.

I suppose, in a way, I can rationalize my culling of the Raider numbers. It's good for the homosapien exosystem. By thinning their numbers and not letting their numbers swell, ruining their day means someone less able to defend themselves day doesn't get ruined by them down the line.

I'm not a murderer. I'm helping nature.

Yeah, you raided those Bandits.

But they raid others.

Circle of Life.

I suppose I worded the original post a little bit awkwardly. I was actually very pleasantly surprised that there was a backstory to a raider camp, and seeing the notes from the boss lady's sister put a more human side to her than just a pixel enemy to shoot at.

I didn't mean "Am I being the bad guy" to be totally literal, and I thought I made that clear later in the post, but I did feel a little bad for killing some woman who was worried about her sister.

Yes, she was a raider, she probably has done some really bad things and needed to be dealt with. But there is just a bit of moral ambiguity here. I killed her and her crew. Yes, she'd most likely done stuff to deserve it, but I still swooped in and took her life. I had no clue (other than the game labeling them as "Raiders") that they weren't just ordinary folk trying to survive. They shot at me, yes, and so I took them out, and I have no qualms about that.

But it just kinda got me thinking about the moral ambiguity of it all. And I liked that.

Thing is the raiders never try to reason or talk to you so you did all you could for peace but they are just unwilling to listen or work with you.

Libertania is another good spot for this.

You find out the Raiders are all Ex-Minutemen who turned to Raiding because they were starving and the caravans they were paid to guard were cheating them.

Without settlements to support them, they only had their guns.