So if you've seen some of the footage shown so far there is one area that ... well is starting to seem odd to me ... and has be worried about the rest of the game.

It appears that early on in the game you are walking down a road and have to kill a bunch of raiders(?). Why? Well maybe they just don't like you because ... reasons? So eventually some guy you've never seen before tells you to pick up a gun and save them. Why should you do this ... reasons? So you grab this gun that you've never seen before and are instantly wiping out the raiders with it ... for reasons? You find the guy who was yelling for your help and he thanks you ... and you decide you like the looks of his gun and blow his head off for ... reason? Or can we? Is he essential?

I'm seriously wondering why we have to be attacked by every raider we see. Why can't we just join up with them? Say "Hey I got a big gun and know how to use it. Can I join you?" While I know that scene in the footage is more less scripted, I have to wonder if most 'encounters' with total strangers are going to be that way ... either they try to kill you immediately for no apparent reason, or they want to befriend you even though you could very well be just like the others that are killing everyone they meet.

It kind of reminds me of some of the quests in Skyrim that you just (for whatever reason) can not avoid starting (like a lot of the Deadric quests). Wondering if we are going to have less real freedom in exchange for scripted story, or more freedom and the ability to just shoot whomever we want ... for reasons.

I dunno. Dress up like a bad boy and try to join your local street gang? Might not work, even if you're a murderous bad ass.

I do certainly hope that Bethesda doesn't have so many quests that start because some NPC decides to come up to me and give it upon me. I almost made a little game out of dodging those A holes. I always got over the fence into Falkreath because of the damn Daedric quest with the dog.

I wouldn't mind joining raiders but ultimately what point would there be in that? You would literally go no where other than to roads and settlements to "raid" them. When I play an evil character I like to think of myself as a extremely egotistical guy go considers himself above other petty raiders and so I grant them death as I "raid" them and their supplies.

Because that is what raiders do, they attack and raid everyone who isn't them.

Because they have no reason to want to let you join them.

You could join the powder gang in New Vegas. And having good relations with them allowed you an extra place to visit, up north. All you had to do is shoot a few NCR pigs because vault dweller life matters and you were pretty much a full blown bandit at that point.

I do recall dodging quest givers in Skyrim also.

I did at one time use a console command to join the Forsworn faction. But if you did a certain quest a certain way there was one part of the Forsworn faction that actually welcomed you afterwards. So, in essence you did join them ... or were at least accepted by them.

I guess one way to look at it is that these raiders already know each other and have survived a lot together, and here you are, someone they ~don't know~ and chances are you're armed to the teeth (nice clean un-apocalyptically-yellowed-or-broken teeth) and perhaps you're in spiffy armor and your hair is coifed just so.... I'm thinking they see the player character and think "Target" more than they think, "Nice guy, maybe we should be friends"....

As noted, the Powder Gangers would let you join them (sort of)... and were not immediately instantly hostile. And there may BE factions like that in Fallout-4.... people that don't know you, and won't instantly attack you ~until~ you do something to tick them off and then they DO attack you on sight ("That thar's the guy whut killed Jeb! Git im!")....

Very very rarely would wondering into a random gang of guys and shouting "I have a big gun and I KNOW how to use it. Can I join?" Would ever work outside of some low budget homoerotic advlt film.

But let's think in game terms.
In fallout, it is a kill or be killed world. While it is true the 'civilized' gangs or militias may give you a chance to speak your piece before shooting. Cesar's legion, NCR, brotherhood, enclave, various other randoms.

The random groups of drug addled sadists that are raiders would not.

But I want one of my settlements to be Raider Town. The settlement will be the head of the drug trade in the area. We'll even have a barber so we can get those mohawks just so right.

But more seriously, I just don't want everyone I meet to be a pre-defined ENEMY or FRIEND. At least give me an choice for most the scenarios.

Because groups of such nature quickly form a us vs them mentality as part of there survival tactics and so rarely bother respond to outsider beyond basic attack or run away approach. You can see such "illogical" mentalities in real life among groupings formed in war torn countries.

Edit: and I imagen it simply be to much of a mess to code a game where every grouping, big or small has to be open to be both enemies and possible allies.

Dude, raiders raid. That's why they're called raiders.

I really hope You can indeed get a raider town and even move up through the ranks and Name your gang. ( This would be one hell of a mod if nothing else).

My only problem with raiders (and hell cannibals in walking dead) if the world is so fubared, wouldnt you run outa people to raid/ eat hehe ??

Course maybe smart raiders keep em alive there targets and just collect taxes.... Gave me an Idea for mounts thread ... A People pulled carriage for the raider leader with style.

Day-Z comes to mind. While it is a video game, it's also a social experiment. At a certain point, they got enough mouths to feed and if they think someone has something their group could use, the person in question becomes nothing more then a walking loot container. The Apocalypse doesn't turn human nature towards Utopia, it turns it towards survival of the fittest. It's all shades of gray when you have a couple cans of Cram and a handful of bullets.

I am afraid Bethesda will have everyone you meet essential. What if I like Preston Garvey's outfit? I'm not going to just cheat it in, even though I have the knowledge to do so...

You spelt hat incorrectly.

Couldn't join the fiends either in FNV.

Which really svcked cause some of those girls were hot.

...

Ok, not sure where I was going with that...

I dig the punk rock girls.

You could also join the slavers of paradise fall in F3 I think? With the mesmetron fun.

As I said earlier i seriously doubt you can be friendly with generic 'raiders'

However there my be several groups/clans that you can join and or ally with.

Generic raiders are no different than super mutants or deathclaws. They are simply monsters.

Yeah. The vast majority of games have "designated badguys" - enemies to attack/be attacked by. And so, "Raiders" attack you on sight. Just like Aliens in a space marine game, Orcs & Goblins in 90% of fantasy games, etc.

Why do the raiders attack? They're badguys. They exist for you to shoot.

(Personally, I don't have a problem with that. But that's likely because even when the option exists, I've never felt any desire to join or assist a "bad" faction. Never helped the Powder Gangers or Legion, never even realized you could talk to the people in Paradise Falls because anything labeled "Slaver" I shot on sight, never understood why someone playing a tabletop RPG would want to make an evil character..... Carries over into other media, too - never enjoyed shows/movies/books with unsympathetic or "villain" protagonists. Like Sopranos or Breaking Bad.)

The way I see it is that raiders, at large aren't a faction. They're like wasteland nature. You can't join molerats, or brahmin. Nor "raiders".
Now, there is the caveat of the Great Khans.
So, if perhaps there is a true tribal band of raiders, then factional alliance becomes possible, though I should think it requires quite the set up/conditions to happen. Much more than, "Hey, I see you guys like to kill. I have some guns, too. Mind if I tag along with you?"- while they are actively raiding a settlement.

That whole scenes location is up near the start of the game.
So, this may be our first run in with raiders. They have no reason to simply let you join up- Likely, you have no rep, nor the leveling/perks to give you any good standing or alignment with them. You are most likely considered one of the people being attacked and looted, who will say anything in order to live.

So it's simple. Raiders raid settlements. They are raiding the settlement you just reached. You can help fight them, or you can die. If you save the others, you might have an easier time of it (Preston is a follower), and might just get some answers to your questions. This seems to be fairly early on, so you might just have a few questions.

That kind of makes sense for them to want to kill 111 right off the bat. I mean, they're hiked up on Psycho likely and are sadist. Some [censored] wanders into their territory. They're not gonna tell said [censored] to turn around and kindly leave, that's not what they do. They're going to see this as a suicidal idiot who volunteered to die. They're raiders. They see you and want whatever you've got on you. They take what they want and kill those who resists. At least Caesar's Legions have some semblance of order and structure even if some think they're just Raiders pretending to be Romans.

One does not apply to be a raider. I'm pretty sure they 'recruit' from the spoils of their raids, not from random people wondering the wastes.

I mean, wild raider's whole identity is that they, without provocation, attack other wastelanders. I don't know if any game addresses it, but in the lore I would assume that raiders also freely attack each other. I mean, they don't strike me as being a proper "faction", like the NCR, Brotherhood, or even Powder Gangers. They're more like wild disparate groups. Raider is more of a catch-all term for the wildmen who roam the wastes and raid people and places for supplies.

If you raid a bunch of raiders, you're a raider yourself. Don't worry, bro! Ueh ueh much ironic so wow intelligent ueh ueh!