Like many of us, I became fed up with the Minutemen radiant quests about halfway through my first playthrough. I'm currently playing a game where I told Preston "No" and doing fine. However, I'm starting to wonder whether it's possible to play the Minutemen questline without being overwhelmed by the radiant quests - by controlling the number of settlements.

What happens if I already have all the settlement locations unlocked before joining the Minutemen? What if I've gone ahead and cleared everything (except The Castle) but only have settlers at a few of them - primarily those that already come with settlers you can't move? Does anybody know what happens when Preston doesn't have those places to send you to establish settlements? Does only having four or five settlements slow down the radiant quests appreciably?

If the idea has merit, which settlements would you use? Do you spread them out around the map for maximum artillery coverage, or concentrate them to make management easier?

His first quest for me was to help a settlement. I already had most cleared (including the castle, so much easier without "Help".). He gave me a Raider Trouble Quest. Did it and was asked to lead the minutemen. Once I got his affinity up we retook the castle (If you take Retook to mean they strolled into an already fully repaired and fully fortified locale). Made Old Guns quest really annoying. I can't wait till we get to point where games are aware of your abilities and can adapt the dialogue to factor that in. It would be like me walking up to Warren Buffet and trying to help him become rich.

Anyway. In answer to your question. If there are no settlements available to be cleared, he doesn't (i.e. shouldn't) give you that type of quest. But anything is possible.

with character I am now playing , I told Preston 'NO' .. so I went about and discovered ( knew where they were ) a few settlements . If you go to a settlement like Abernathy . Blake will tell ya he has a problem , DONOT say anything until your time to reply comes up .. I u try to talk to him before it does , for me it just cancelled everything out and all I get is ' lets trade ' .. . But waiting for my part to reply to come up I am given the quest .. Same with Greentop settlement and tens .. They give ya quests on their own and after the 1st 1 they give u access to the workshop . You can still do everything , just not thru the minutemen/ preston stuff .. Is really different .. but kinda neat also . I am gonna play it out and see where it goes ,, I am not going to join any faction and still play like I was and see where it all goes .. I will prolly still blow up Institute , if it plays out to that point ,, ..

Hope this helps ya

If you unlock a settlement but don't keep any settlers there, you'll never get quests for it or calls to defend it.

It's pretty easy to avoid these quests altogether by just sending Preston to a settlement that you never go to though.

You can't blow up the Institute without joining a faction to do it with unfortunately.

See that's what I'm thinking. I don't want to avoid him completely and I don't mind the occasional help/defend mission for 4 or 5 settlements. What I'm hoping to stop is being run ragged by 25+ settlements.

This is a pity, actually. A bit more variation in the MM radiant quests, a bit less hassle - the MM idea is actually quite good I think. I hope, they fix the various problems with quests and building.

Also a DLC or a bigger update for MM would be fine. I would wish for:

1) More MM NPCs (the guys you call with the flare gun). You - as the general - should be able to help with their equipment. If you have Armor/Weapon stores in your settlements it should make the equipment of MM and maybe settlers better.

2) General 'morale' could be affected by number, size and happiness of your settlements. More morale means higher levels of the MM NPCs.

3) Trading in settlements generates more MM, you can call them more often. It should be limited how often you can call on them.

4) New additions to settlements become available if you have more settlements and more average morale (happiness).

Also I think the animations - while they play no real role - of the settler NPCs should be worked on. Somehow the nameless NPCs in Goodneighbour or DC look better, more natural. Settlers stand around too often. They go to the bar in the evening, and to their beds, if they can reach them. (I have 16 in Starlight Drivein, and no beds assigned, but they all walk to the house and use the beds, this seems to work). But they look peculiar in the bar - they too often stand up and change the seat, this looks awful. Also they should 'use' the items in the settlement (work benches, etc.) like the named NPCs do. And they should visit the settler shops, it looks awful when the settler merchants stand the entire day and nobody except the player visits.

I think the settlement system should have more rewards, when you do it better. Nothing big and unbalancing, only small things. Then we players would be more motivated to build up our settlements, and not concrete fortresses but just how they were planned by the devs.

Edit: When I write 'using the shops and work benches' I am talking about unassigned settlers. There will always be 2-3 at least. You can have 5 settlers assigned to shops and you need around 4-5 settlers for food. If you have 5 guards, and one scrapper, then with a maximum of 20 settlers (more makes no sense) you will have several unassigned settlers. They could make the settlement more lively looking.

If you want to basically have total control over it, send Preston to a settlement that you rarely go to or to a big settlement (I have him at the Castle) where it will be easy to see where he's at and avoid him. Don't listen to Radio Freedom. Turn off the speakers at the Castle with the blue breaker box at the base of the tower. Complete the objectives for the logged quests, but don't talk to Preston. They'll time out after a while, and they'll still complete and award you the same XP. Then when you're ready for some more of them, just go find Preston and he'll probably have 2-3 of them for you.


There are a few points where it can't be avoided though because Preston will be playing an essential part. This can be incredibly annoying. I just finished the main quest line a few days ago with my current character, and I did the 3 faction ending with the Minutemen. I was standing on the roof of Mass Fusion after making it through the Institute, I hit the button to blow the Institute up...went through the whole ending video and everything. Then I fade back to the game, the quest objective updates to talk to Preston...I turn around and talk to him..."Another settlement has sent word that they need our help."


Like...really Preston? We literally JUST NOW blew up the Institute after a crazy hectic battle...and you're going to tell me about a settlement that needs our help, rather than talking about this insane thing that we just pulled off? Okay. That's cool I guess.

I seriously wish I'd been recording when that happened.

Kinda scary how Preston share the same attitude of Gaenor the Natural from Morrowind.

Hi http://www.gamesas.com/user/942452-quantumcurt/

yes, I do know how it all ends. I have been thru all the endings . have 1 character at 88 and another at 78 and now a new 1 that I have started all over with that was at 63 and reset back to the 11minute mark

. I am not sure how this play's out but will find out by not joining any of the factions , is my main goal .. how does it all play out is the question for myself to find that answer ..

I am still discovering and when I go to a settlement I am getting a quest to do . I just got , need to do the sun-shine co-op . Is different getting this from settler at red rocket .. and is a Red rocket quest to go there .. which I didn't expect .. so is little surprises like that is nice and different to see ..

Also, if u blow up institute with no evac order , gotta kill the RR off .. they real pissed .. and preston just cant believe that happened .. obnly 1's happy is BoS ..

well anyways . is a new adventure that is happening and only at lvl 18 with this character and will see where it goes .. ..

but was trying to let the orginal poster see that is still stuff happening even tho not join a faction ..