In preparation for the new survival mode, I have been trying to find a good overland route between the Castle and Star Light Drive in. But so far I have not really found a good path. That part of Boston seems to be stuffed with Mutants and Raiders. I tried heading through Bunker Hill and then down south, but that direction has non-stop engagements. I was hoping someone had a fairly simple route cutting through Boston. Even just connecting between Goodneighbor and the Castle would be great.

The safest route so far has to follow the rail road past Greygarden and Oberland station almost to Egret Tours. And then cut all the way across through Falons department store to Jamica plains and then up to the Castle. But it is long! BTW, following that route, but turn down the road after Oberland station will take you straight into Boston and Diamond City in no time. And with no real opposition.

To be honest, I kind of think a Hazmat suit or Aquaboy and just swimming from Bunker Hill to the Castle is the best method. But that means no power armor.

Yeah, my best advice is to stick to the southern outskirts of town, or passing by Diamond City and heading east at the Boston Police Rationing Site. That path is mostly safe, but once you get to the little peninsula the Castle sits at the end of it's going to be crowded no matter what - again I'd suggest sticking to the southern road.

Thanks for the input. I find once the castle is set up with Artillery, the encounters nearby can be quickly flattened. Especially the Raider Camps, sneak up and toss a smoke grenade over the wall. Kills most of them.

Yeah, not easy to get out of the the Castle peninsula entirely peacefully unless you want to swim.

But once you get to lets say around the Boston south military checkpoint, its not impossible to get to Starlight peacefully.

-id say follow the railway tracks down to grey garden (its very easy to avoid any location by diverting a little as needed)

-over the bridge keep following rail way tracks through oberland all the way to down to fairline hill estates (once again detour as needed to avoid enemies if you wish, you only need to go a little to the west to avoid as its not jam packed, there isnt many enemies at all though just an unmarked train depot really which can easily be avoided if wish, just a few ghouls there)

- then cut to the east between fairline estate and milton general hospital, keep heading east till hit the coast or close to it to arrive north of university point

-then just continue on to the castle

you will run into barely anything on that route and not even go through any locations except greygarden and oberland which are settlements (no enemies) and beentown brewery which has no outside enemies

also in that area the locations are very spread allowing you to avoid what you want and attack what you want without drawing all surrounding enemies in

Just swim from north to South, but get some RadAway and Stimpacks before. There is no need for Hazmat Suit or Power Armor. RadAway is already stronger then the Radiation in the Water. Thats the easiest and less dangerous Way.

I have a feeling that due to the late nature of Survival Mode and the fact it wasn't planned from the outset, there's going to be a whole lot of "unrealistic" content in the game once you add in the new rules set. The areas, quests, enemies that spawn between - were never put there with Survival in mind and though much of the game shouldn't be too completely unfair you'll get odd things like this from time to time unless Bethesda specifically go in there and make changes just to address these issues specifically.


I'm taking this as a "see how much content you can complete" type of mode. Things like the castle are extraneous, just like Garvey's endless settlement quests (which are also a pretty bad clash with Survival Mode) and there are paths you can take in the game to avoid having to go to those places. It's a "realism" thing - if you were concerned that it's going to be too hard to survive the trip to the castle in a realistic situation you just wouldn't go. That's part of the fun from what I can gather: whereas in regular play we're pretty safe so we can basically pick and choose our entire playthrough based on what story it is we want to tell, or what advantages exist taking one route over another (like joining the RR solely for Ballistic Weave makes no sense as your SS wouldn't actually know they could teach you that) so instead you have to respond and react to the world around you. Do what you have to do to survive.


I certainly won't be the "ultimate good", doing every quest for every faction before the point of no return, or never stealing, or never murdering - the new rules change all that, and if it means siding with a particular faction is more viable a proposition, or I absolutely need that red item right this moment, then I'd so whatever is the sensible thing to do (sensible not being the same as moral) because if you can't do what it takes to survive you won't.

The best and quickest path is always to use the sea or rivers if you can. That's why I think the Aquaboy or Aquagirl perk will be pretty useful in survival. I just went from Bunker Hill to Diamond City by way of the river. I would have otherwise had to fight like 2 or 3 groups in the way if I had not used the water to bypass everyone.

Yes - that's the best anyone can really suggest right now.


Though someone pointed out to me a day or so ago that swimming is pretty overpowered. You're rarely at risk of being attacked, can duck underwater if you actually are for some reason, and can travel huge stretches without much risk at all. In fact it seems likely it's the sort of thing we'll see nerfed a bit in Survival. I can actually see the AP fatigue system playing into this so swimming costs AP or something, and when you're out of AP either you'd sink like a rock and start drowning (losing HP) or you'd just swim more slowly and begin to sap maximum AP from tiredness the longer you push yourself.


So swimming looks like the best way, and will probably remain the best way, but we have to bear in mind that changes could easily turn it into the worst.

Sticking to the southern outskirts of Diamond City is probably the best path in terms of fewer enemy engagements, but it's a much longer path. Going north of the river to Bunker Hill involves going by some pretty tough enemies at several points, which isn't exactly conducive to a quick journey.

It's possible to plan a path going right through downtown Boston without really encountering any enemies though if you go the right way.

Going along the northern river bank then crossing the bridge by the CIT Ruins, past Hangman's Alley, past Diamond City, and right through downtown Boston is a good path if you take the right route through Boston.

That might be an answer.

Take Aquaboy/girl, and swim the long way down from Taffington Boathouse

Invest in agility and endurance and you can sprint past and ignore pretty much any combat

Go East to Taffington Boathouse, then swim.

Easiest least confrontational way I can think of is to jump on the train tracks and head South. Past greygarden, past oberland station.. all way down to the crossroad between the Coast Guard Pier and Fairline hill estates. You'll meet some ghouls along the way that you can easily outrun. Maybe a band of low level raiders or some wild dogs.. but nothing overly crazy. .. Then just head east to the Relay Tower avoiding Fairline Hill Estates. After that it gets a bit tricky as Castle is pretty much surrounded by crazy stuff. But I'm sure with a few practice runs you could find some sort of route through there that's pretty non confrontational. At any rate, you've cut a significant amount of time off your journey just by avoiding running through the city maze and having to deal with all that

nonsense.

I just went and did a practice run from the relay tower to castle.. It is pretty harrowing but I got through without firing a shot or dying. My first run to the relay tower from Starlight was fine. Second time a molerat brigade with a legendary mamma popped up. So ... beware of the molerat brigade at the relay tower.. One thing I hate about molerats and radscorpions is they are able to magically tunnel underground faster than you can run on land and they never seem to give up pursuit. Molerats at least take a bit of time before popping back up in a different place. Radscorpians have the ability to warp time.

Thanks for the comments. It seems the train track route is the best. I think I was just going to far south, the best route is to stay closer to Boston.


That route seems the best way to go north south on western half of the map. On the east side swimming seems to be the best. Aqua boy gives you worry free transit across some really dangerous territory. Even if you use power armor, I think you could leave your suit at starlight and leave another one at the castle.


One question, how well do companions handle swimming? Do they get distracted and swim towards enemies? In the past I could always just keep going knowing that they would just magically catch up. Now they may get knocked out and go home if you leave them. Making companions a lot less useful. I guess you could always just dismiss them and send them to your destination before taking a swimming trip.


Edit, also on the swim route you can pretty much jump in the first lake to the east of Starlight and swim straight to the castle without firing a single shot! You just got to hop over the dam. You can get to the castle in 7-8 minutes. But it is a little boring.

Hmm, just realized the Castle settlement comes with a pre-built medic station. So curing rads from swimming is cheap and easy. 40 caps.


Swimming out of the Castle you could stop at Bunker Hill and have Kay cure your rads. I think it is the OCD in me that's hates rad damage.

Oh, I have the perfect little route I take out of the castle to Diamond city, or to good neighbor. It might take a bit of stealth if you dont want to engage in combat though. But since I'm a sneak character, traversing is never an issue for me.

I've seen that argument before (probably coming from you lol) that swimming is OP and should cost AP. I say, then walking and running should cost AP as well. Sprinting and fast swimming already costs AP. If you swim in a slow and rhythmic pattern, you won't exhaust yourself and therefore, shouldn't lose AP points.

As for the route, I also like to follow the railroad lines, when I travel over land. There are not too many dangers along those paths and you can make good time.

Stick to the coast and when you get to the shipping company swim past all the super mutants. You might get some mirelurk trouble but there's a pier which they can't walk on leaving you a great ground level vantage point