I am not arguing about whether synth, mutants, and ghouls should be shoot on sight.

I am not arguing about if the BOS is a encalve clone or not.

I simply asking if Bethesade should gave the player a option to make BOS more like Lyon faction.

Sure, if only because that's what the majority of current day players were first introduced to.

Can we make the Institute more like the Followers of the Apocalypse?

This is probably the most repeated question on this forum XD

No, they shouldn't have. That would be just like having an ending slide telling the player that they have turned institute into good guys: it kills the point of the faction having a downside.

It also kills the symbolism of "power corrupts".

Let this be an issue for Fallout 5, where Lyons and Maxson believers might fight it out. For FO4, this BoS is perfect as it is.

On my end, I have nothing but disdain for the players who talk about how the Lyons Brotherhood was a bunch of white knights and good guys as well as how this was lore-breaking because the game explained that Lyons was a renegade splinter faction as well as was on his last legs. So, I like the Lyons factions of the BoS and think they work well.

I also like the element of tragedy the story brought to Arthur Lyons and Sarah Lyons. Both of them were decent, good, and genuinely noble people who did their best to make the world a better place despite how much they had to fight uphill. In the end, the fact Arthur Maxson took their dream, twisted it, and made it something horrifying is good storytelling.

At least, IMHO.

I think it also provides a nice dilemma to all those fans who were going to join the BOS because they always do. It requires them to actually think about something other than KEWL POWER ARMOR.

Because dammit, THE ATOM CATS have better armor!

The Institute desperately needs a "change their ways" option far more than the Brotherhood does.

Since with the Institute

Which isn't the case with the Brotherhood.

While it's true you don't become an Elder, you do become a sentinel. That's still a pretty big deal.

At least this is suggested by being able to save Synths at Bunker Hill, choose what the radio broadcast says, have a duo of scientists taught a lesson for disobeying you and, even more to the point, have Piper write how she expects the Institute to become better due to you being their new Director. There is more hope than for BoS I think.

It is just a hint that it MIGHT be possible, but that's good enough for now I think. If it were confirmed, than that would make the Institute choice too good (it is already the most popular choice judging by the Steam achievements so I don't think they need more boosts).

Maxson is already the middle road between the two. By incorporating the Outcasts back into the Ranks of the Brotherhood, he would have had to return to the original mission of gathering technology, but while at the core, he still is trying to protect the Wastelanders by eliminating the primary threats (Ghouls, Super Mutants, etc) and even being so bold as to still recruit outsiders into the fold. He is truly offering hope to those who support him at the cost of confiscating shiny, blinking gizmos for his forces.

In Fallout 3, even the Outcasts were more interested in Armor and weapons than anything else. At best, they would ignore the wastelanders of DC. Maxson looking out for the people and still recruiting them is a massive improvement over the outcasts.

"Nuclear option" is more popular than "Nuclear family" based on the global steam achievements though?

I think people are too hung up on Maxons regime beginning different to Lyons.

The BoS aren't a static faction, they have differences in how each conducts their interpretation of the codex, and each generation within each chapter varies as well. We have *Never* been able to change the politics of the BoS by significant means other then in NV, where you might dethrone the elder, in which case the head paladin takes over. This actually makes you have *less* influence over the ending then you did before as this causes you to loose the option for the Brotherhood to make a treaty with the NCR.

The chapters are controlled by the Elders, and an Elder who can be manipulated by someone who was not long ago an outsider to the brotherhood, is not worthy of being an elder. Now.. if you were given the opportunity to become an elder, (A new one, I don't think we have the right to replace Maxon) Then, maybe you should have the opportunity to alter certain policies. But, don't expect to have everyone under you agree with it, if you were to implore something like Lyons policies, you should expect a number of people to leave the Brotherhood in protest as they did before.

I voted sort of because I think the better question would have been "Should the Brotherhood be taken in a different direction". Or perhaps "Should the player get to make the Brotherhood less xenophobic".

Yep, but those are three endings leading to that achievement so it would be something special if Nuclear Family was more popular than that one.

What, you mean wiped from the face of the Earth? Already did that

That woul be cool I think. They could theoretically even turn the institute into a highly advanced hospital or academy of learning I doubt they'd ever do that due to security risks but they could become highly specialized wasteland doctors at the least.