If he has the chip, he's a synth. There are many synths who think they're human (Danse, Art), and some humans that think they're synths (Glory, Phyllis Daily.) You really have no way of knowing while you're alive. This is the major complaint that most people of the Commonwealth have against The Institute.

Maybe this will play out in the DLC? He was likely a memory-wiped synth that was smuggled out by the RR.

Come on. Do you really need to ask? Look at his hair. Not even a synth would wear their hair like that, He is an Alien infiltration unit.

Wait what? Trashcan Carla is a Synth? Geez, I have well over 300 hours into the game and I had no idea!! LOL Are all the merchants Synths then?

And Glory is actually human? o.0

Alot of people in the game are Synths. The Institute boogeymen theory was correct.

Not much of a spoiler that Carla works for the Synth as you can find that in game. She can die in game (just put a mine in her way) and her body will reveal the truth.

Glory, who does die in game, doesn't drop the synth part that you can find on synth bodies. What her real story is, who can tell. She was REALLY close friends with the brain dead synth whose body is given to Curie. Perhaps that synth's 'mind' went into her through some mixed up mind-meld whatever screw up at the dream factory. Whatever happened, it ended with one synth brain dead and Glory thinking she's a synth. Or maybe she's just a lair. Who knows.

I'm not exactly sure what you're saying here. Could you clarify this?

Carla is an informant, but I don't think she's a synth. She's on that list, as most of the wandering vendors are. I think they're just paid informants though, and not actually synth replacements. I've never killed any of them to find out if they drop the synth component, so I'm not sure.

He could be a freed synth who had his memory wiped too. I've always assumed that it implied that he was a synth replacement and I've never considered the idea of him being a freed synth. That's a good question. It would be cool to see this expanded upon in some future DLC.

I don't think Glory is actually a human. I think that was just an oversight on the part of the developers. Roger Warwick is a synth as well and doesn't drop a synth component. Again, I think that was just an oversight. In both cases, these are the only synths within a group of humans. I think it's reasonable to assume that someone simply forgot to add the synth components to their inventory.

That would be a pretty big oversight, in my opinion. And two oversights about the same issue at that... I couldn't know for sure, but I think this may have been intended to illustrate the ambiguity behind "being a synth" and the paranoia regarding "swapping people with synths".

Beyond that, there's just the general question of how we define our own identity. If Danse feels human, is he really human? If Glory feels like a synth, is she a synth, component or not? Is K.L.E.O. a woman because that's what she feels like, or is she simply a gender-less robot?

I think what the game reveals (chip or not) is what the character technically is...but how the character defines him or herself is an entirely different matter.

It is very possible to make that oversight. X6-88 doesn't drop a chip when he is killed, and he's a courser. But his first point of meeting is an area surrounded by humans....

That's a big oversight, then, as the chip is the only "proof" that someone is a synth...maybe besides have unusually high energy resistance. (Although wouldn't X6-88 have a special courser chip?)

You really have no way of knowing if anyone is a synth beyond a few characters who drop the components.

And sure, we're *told* that certain characters are synths, but there are also plenty of terminals that list additional suspected synths, too.

Not sure what to believe.

As far as the cohesiveness of the story is concerned, yes, that is a big oversight. But as far as the actual process of creating a game is concerned, that is a very small oversight. Adding the synth component to their postmortem inventory is nothing more than an extra line of code. Given that the Railroad consists entirely of people, someone was writing this code and simply forgot to add it to Glory. The same goes for Roger Warwick. Someone was coding a settlement full of people, and just forgot to add it to him. As far as Sturges is concerned, it is far less likely that this is a mistake. Someone was coding a group of people, and then accidentally coded a synth component into his postmortem inventory? I find that incredibly hard to believe. That's not something that could reasonably be done by accident as I see it.

Well, I'd have expected an underground operation to recruit so as to bridge the divide. For the RR, that woud necessitate having a mixture of human and synth throughout the operation. The RR are, after all, trying to get their synth refugees integrated into human communities. So the idea that none of them are human strikes me as a bit odd and, perhaps, a bit short-sighted on the part of the RR given how important human participation would be to bridge the cultural gap - especially when the potential consequences could involve exposure of their operation.

Just my impression, though...

I'm still not really sure what you're saying here. I'm not suggesting that all of the people in the Railroad are synths, or that they're all human. What I'm suggesting as being an oversight is that the developers forgot to add the synth component to Glory's postmortem inventory.

Well, I can't resist the temptation to toss a curly one in here but, if I were an escaped synth, my first priority would be to dump the controller - which is what I think that synth chip is, especially, given the behaviour and attitude of "Father". So, once I got my cover memories sorted out - I'd be looking for surgery just to make sure nobody can remotely download an override alternate personality or trigger a locator transponder or nerve staple which, for all I know, could come bundled with the tech. Maybe I'm a mite paranoid about control freaks like "Father" but I reckon the synths without synth chips would be the smart ones.

And, I imagine there'd be a few synths returning with new identities because life out where they were intended to go, will sometimes drive them back into the Commonwealth just like it would do for other migrants.

I like your logic ,


some clam to be synth in the game and don't drop a chip , with or with out cheating via a pc , if the same logic was used by the people that belive that sterges is a synth , then a lot of other characters would be human and not a synth , or may be an alien ,


That was my point why I started this , A lot of females were killed , by drowing or by fire on a stake , due to people believed they were witches when they were not ,


The other thing to point out are u the only one with perks in this world of bethesda fo4.

Ccharacters in the game that have high resistance to energy dose not mean they are a synth ,by that logic if u get the perk that allows u to have high energy resistance that would mean you are a synth , but no your not .

Ah, my apologies; I misunderstood. It could be an oversight although, just looking at it for what it is (i.e. a synth without a synth component) makes sense because of the kind of paranoia necessitated by people like "Father" and also fits the theme that gen 3s are really just people with some kind of surgically implanted controller or interface. I mean, it's really seems to me to be all about the question of what makes a human being (as opposed to what makes a homo sapiens). But that's just how I see it.

I'd assume the 'synth component' is an integral part of a synth's brain and removing it would be like removing, say, the hippocampus from a human brain, or else that surgery would be the first procedure every escaped synth would undergo.

That Synth who's mind was wiped and then he left the RR and became a Raider boss ... seemed really odd that we could still just say some numbers and he basically 'shuts down'. If the mind wipe the RR does isn't removing also the override commands then why even bother with doing it at all?

It's to help the synths pass as human. If even they don't know they're not people it's harder for them to accidentally out themselves.

I'd still argue that the only thing kept 'alive' doing that is a synth body and not a person. The person (if a synth can be one) died when their mind was wiped and became a newly created person, using the same old body, when the RR reprograms them. Course this is really a discussion for another thread.

To be more relevant to the thread, Sturges, since it's unlikely that he's a Institute mole (since he doe help you break in and destroy them), is most likely a synth who was programmed by the Patriot to feel an urge to escape the Institute, he escaped, was rescued by the RR, and then had his mind wiped and was therefore KILLED for all practical purposes, his body was reprogrammed with that of a Handyman and he eventually ended up with Preston and crew.

Thank you!

Seriously, I don't see how the Railroad thinks they are helping synths when they are just killing who they were. All there memories along with whatever inspired them to seek freedom are GONE.

Are you 100% sure you are not a synth?

It has been stated by some that the only way to tell if a person is a Synth is by their chip, and if the chip is removed then there would be no way to tell one way or another. Wouldn't all Synth have the same DNA, or at the very least show as directly related to each other if tested? One last question, does the Synth creation process require a chip? The reason I ask is if the chip is not required then maybe some were created without them.

nevermind

Awwwe. I was just going to quote you

You did anyway.

I read what I posted ... it didn't make sense to me ... figured no point in going there.

A lot of what I want to say should probably be put into anther thread since this one should be specifically about Sturges. This synth topic gets deeper every time I get into it. The problem is the more logic I put into it the worse it makes the RR look.

I am with you there. I am no fan of the Institute but the more I think about what the RR is doing the less I like them.