I am, for lack of a better term, a synth-sympathiser. I'm on my second playthrough and have not yet found what I would consider to be a pre-established synth-safe city. Ticon is about as close as I can get, but it has a few problems: A) it's a pass-through, not a home, it's sparsely populated, C) it's not well defended and D) as far as I know, I can't turn it into a settlement, thereby boosting its defenses.

While I applaud the Railroad for their efforts, I wish they'd work on integrating synths into the general population, rather than simply hiding them and shuttling them out of the Commonwealth. Maybe that's in their long-term plans, I don't know. Plus, some of their methods are a bit... well, let's just say I'm not 100% on-board.

I was hoping The Slog would be welcoming, given their personal experiences with prejudice, but they seem to be as prejudiced against synths as non-ghoul humans are. Disappointing. At the very least, I'd welcome a quest where I could attempt to open/change their minds.

Anyway, I would love to find a pre-established synth-safe settlement. Or, if I had to, I wouldn't be opposed to creating one. A settlement that welcomes EVERYONE: synth, human, ghoul, whatever, just so long as you're a nice person. I'd like to see us all get along. Harmony Haven, I'd call it. Does any such place exist? Have I missed it in my travels?

One of the RR quests has you establish a settlement "safehouse" doesn't it? I think the location is variable.

Just who, exactly, do you intend to house in such a settlement? Afaik there are no synth settlers that aren't undercover hostile infiltrators who'll turn on you and their neighbors at the drop of a hat.

That description could be used about quite a few humans, too, couldn't it?

Sure, but I wasn't expressing anti-synth sentiment, it was a purely technical question.

Spectacle Island is a good place to set up a Synth Community. No humans or ghouls on the island, some wildlife that needs to be taken care off, and away from any prying eyes. It needs a bit of fixing up since there is little development on the island. Just a shack, ship, and some power lines.

I suppose it's difficult to tell, simply by looking at them, who'd be a good addition to the community and who'd be a detriment. But that's true for everyone. As for synths "turning" on people, many of the synth/human interactions I've seen out in the wild have been humans acting aggressively toward the synth. Usually in a pre-emptive move ("I'm going to kill you because I know your motive is to kill me, even though you've shown absolutely no indication to do so even though you had plenty of opportunity...").

I suppose we'd just have to take it on faith. I'm willing to do that.

That's a thought. I think the hippy-haven at Sunshine Tidings might be nice, too. I wonder how I could recruit synths and let them know they're welcome? Sadly, if I said "Synths Welcome!" I'd probably attract a bunch of synth-hunting hooligans .

So if you made a synth settlement, could you skip having to supply food, water, and beds? Just give them some defense..

I believe MeanSzuszu is referring to the settlers who infiltrate your settlements and are usually killed by your defences the moment they turn hostile.......you can then loot their bodies, showing the Synth part that identifies them as Synths. So it not really a pro or anti statement about Synths, you can be pro Railroad or pro Institute and you can still have the attacks since they aren't apparently effected by the factions. Its the same with Institute Synths attacks (in the same way as raiders, super mutants etc) your standing with the Institute doesn't seem to stop them attacking your settlements.

So the point being made was the only Synth settlers in the game are those posing as humans and they only reveal themselves when they attack their neighbours.......so there is really no way to make a Free Synth Settlement in the Vanilla game. Mods maybe?

Also since the whole background of the game is Synths infiltrating and replacing human settlers with doppelgangers and the only pro-Synth group is a shadowy organisation that hides re-programmed Synths from the Institute within unsuspecting human communities, how would an existing pro-Synth settlement work?

It would be a target of the Institute, hated by 99.9% of the human population and would probably be avoided by the Railroad as a security risk.

Is a synth settler who turns on the settlement any worse than a human raider? I'm still just as dead. Well, not me, 'cause I'm the Sole Survivor and I'm, apparently, immortal.

I agree, not every synth that shows up at the gate will be pure and free of evil intentions, but the same can be said of the humans or ghouls. I'm willing to bet, however, that the vast majority will be just regular folks, trying to survive and scratch out an existence in this harsh and hostile world. Even more hostile for synths because of the extreme prejudice they face.

Yep, this was literally what I was asking - how would you go about setting up a synth settlement when the game doesn't have any synths that can be made into settlers, only settlers that turn out to be synths who are hostile by default.

You're missing the point, there are no Synth settlers (except for one named NPC) but the hidden ones that join your settlements as humans and then attack their neighbours.

This isn't a claim of balancing the morality of Synth settlers compared to human, its a game mechanic in which some of your settlers will turn out to be Synth Infiltrators who will simply turn hostile at some point.

There is I believe one named settler who is linked to the Minutemen Questline who is apparently a Synth, but I'm unsure if this ever comes up in game.

The majority of Synths in the game are Institute property either serving their masters in the Institute, acting as a hostile army or Infiltrating human communities either as new settlers or replacing existing murdered human settlers. The minority of free Synths are reprogrammed to believe they are humans and are often as anti Synth as everyone else. That leaves you with I believe Glory, Nick, Curie and the runaway Synths you can meet through the Railroad who haven't been reprogrammed yet.

Woooooosh! That was your original point, going right over my head (sorry 'bout that!). NOW I get it.

As for an answer? I don't know! Un-modded synths (those who haven't been Railroaded) are fully aware that they're synths. Most that I've encountered have not been evil/hostile. Most have been quite gentle. It would be relatively easy for them to get themselves to Harmony. Perhaps the Railroad could help others settle in, sort of like real estate agents ("I've got this gorgeous property over in Harmony that you might like...")? I don't know. I suppose it would mean some sort of game modification. Which is too bad for me, since I'm on PS4 and any modification would have to be done by Beth. Looks like I'm out of luck. I'm so sorry, my synth sisters and brothers!

Beth, hear my plea -- make some synth settlers who are not programmed to self-destruct.

So you want the runaway Synths, rather than the Railroad re-programmed (might turn you into a raider) Synths who believe they are human before they are reprogrammed to hide them from the teleporting death squad Synths.

You could I suppose do what I did to create a Brotherhood Settlement (rather than a simply Brotherhood controlled settlement) and dress everybody in faction uniforms and clothing and pretend they are all Synth settlers.

I will protect any peace-loving synth in my community, regardless of whether they've been re-programmed or not. If they think they're human, good. If they're aware that they're synth, that's good, too. I don't care one way or the other, as long as they are good, productive members of the community.

If/when the death-squad synths show up, they will be dealt with. Heck, maybe I'll re-program them!

Except you have no way of knowing IF you have any Synth living in your community, the only ones that are likely to be aware that they are Synths (aside from the named character above) are the infiltrators who may have murdered your peace loving settlers and replaced them (otherwise they joined your community to either spy or to attack your settlers at some point).

One of my first settlers (who ran one of my stores at the red rocket) was a productive member of my community for over a hundred hours of gameplay and then one day she attacked the other settlers. Its designed to make you wonder how many other settlers are also Synths who could attack at any moment.

Well, all the technicalities aside, I guess the bottom line is, as the game stands right now, Harmony doesn't (and can't) exist. It's not that it exists and I somehow missed it. There is no such place and I don't have the means to create it.

Maybe one day, I hope.

It just occurred to me: I've never encountered a ghoul synth.

There are a few freed Synths that decide to avoid the memory implant due to it being easier to avoid being killed if you know you are a Synth. However, it does cause the problem of always looking over your shoulder. In this rare case, ignorance is bliss.

Synth settlers would likely have to be modded in. Although, it depends on if you want free Gen-3 Synths or free Gen-1 and Gen-2 Synths. Gen-1 and Gen-2 Synths seem like the perfect slave workforce so you can't actually free them. Also, how do you tell who is a Gen-3 Synth and who is a human? Add some cosmetic change like mechanical cat ears, add a Synth component to their inventories, or some other method? After all, how do you tell that Sanctuary Hills hasn't been replaced by a bunch of Gen-3 Synths without your knowledge? Personality wise, there is no difference between a Synth and a settler.

Didn't Tinker Tom had some scan machines to tell who is synth and who is not ?

When I did my safe house it was the knocked down houses in the southern swamp. The great thing is after I touched the work bench I was able to send a Settler provisioner from a MM town to it and that allowed me to use all my resources to build it all up. I put in a bunk house, all kinds of defenses, huge water purifier and crops. Everything but a recruit beacon. It stays at 0 population but no reason you couldn't send your synths there.

Actually thats my Safehouse XD

The synth infiltrators can't be used as ordinary settlers? I suppose if you used Awareness to see who was a synth (natural energy resistance), you could single out those settlers and send them all to the same settlement. Spectacle Island or Outpost Zimonja seem like good choices.