Personally I wouldn't use that. I want my companions to stay essential. Even if that means I have to put up with Preston. Honestly, the main reason why I wouldn't want to use it, is Dogmeat. I'm not sure, it could even break some quests where certain companions are needed.

you are just the best at being evil aren't you? I love it.

Update time.

Was walking along the southeast part of the map during the night. It was raining. Came upon a garage where everyone was fighting. Couldn't tell one from the other, so I wasted them all. Well, except one who was kneeling. Turns out, they were the Atom Cats. Oops. Reload! I don't like taking out innocents.

***

Crossing a bridge and saw a provisioner/caravanner under heavy attack from Raiders. Whipped out the ol' .302 and started assisting from a distance. All was going well until the [bleeping] idiot walked into my line of fire. Looted his corpse because he ticked me off. Guy had over 100 caps and 50 10mm rounds.

***

Ah, night time in the rain again. Was walking downtown and saw a Super Mutant standing doing nothing. Realizing others may be around, including our favorite suicider, I decided to pop one into the skull. He went down, but kneeling. I thought, "Wait. Why is it kneeling?" When no further blips popped up, I figured this was a unique encounter. So I rushed up only to discover it was Strong. Thank goodness he didn't hold it against me.

LOL! I have Strong working as a Provisioner and, recognizing that big bulky silhouette in the distance a couple times have put a few shots into 'em before I realized that pack brahmin nearby was HIS!

I took this one step further by building a 1X1 box and put the chair inside. Once she sat down I quickly built the last section of wall and roof so she couldn't get out. Much to my displeasure someone let her out after I left the first time but it was fun for that little bit.

Hhhmmm... a supermutant as a provisioner? That's actually a really good idea.

One would surmise!

However, in truth, I think it doesn't matter. Provisioners are "protected" I believe, which means they can only be killed by damage from the player character.

I've only seen supply lines go down a couple times and in both instances those deaths could be attributed to me or "my" turrets (which apparently count as Player Character damage)

I think, you have that quite wrong. Provisoners can be killed when the player character isn't around to save their butts. I've seen a couple of dead ones. But when I'm there, if they run into trouble, they just pull the essential schtick.

I haven't lost any, that I am aware of....... But, I did watch one take on four synths, including a courser, and eventually take them down.... Took a while.

The operative word here is you've seen him. So you were around. That's when they're immortal. If you hadn't been there, he would have been raw meat. It's the same as with these pesky attacks. The game makes you autolose if you're not around.

I'll have to remember that. In their other games it was the reverse - stay away or they'll die.

Good thing I chased after one of my Provisioners before he got too far (to give him better gear as I forgot earlier) as he came across some super mutants

After becoming frustrated with my settlements I went to each one, rang the bells to get the morons together, and killed them all with mini nukes. Playing Skyrim again until the geck has been out for ~6 months.

Wipe the slate clean and shelf it for a while.

THATS the spirit!

If you are still listening though, question: could you succinctly list what it is about the vanilla game that has engendered such frustration as to just stop playing till after mods fix the problem? Just curious really, no interest in arguing about it at all.

Are you sure about the "raw meat" part?

I have only seen two "settler" corpses in any of my build zones (plenty of other ones out and about the Wastelands of course . . .). While it is possible that one or both of these were killed by hostile NPCs (or friendly fire from other settlers), it seems more likely to me that they were killed by either me or more likely my turrets and moreover, WHILE I was there.

In the absence of any proof that settlers "Protected" status is changed to "Normal" while the player is not in the cell, I think it makes more sense from a programming standpoint that their "Protected" status remains in effect all the time. I suppose this could be confirmed by looking at the files, but I have yet to get into that, and don't want to get into the habit of using non-GECK tools to fiddle with the files.

I think the way it works is: if the sole survivor does not respond to the "help" alert in a timely fashion, there is a script that is run that causes damage to crops or defenses. It may actually delete walls too, as I've noticed a couple settlements where sections of walls went missing. I have my doubts that settlers are killed, though they may be.

I am not positive yet, but I do not think it matters. Provisioners and allied settlers seem to have the "Protected" status, which means they can only die as a result of damaged caused by the player. This includes turrets that have been placed by the player though.

I've sent strong to go investigate that area over by the artillery strike.

Shot my son (Shaun) in the head in his deathbed. Mercy Killing

Put a grenade in my provisioner's pocket for no other reason than wanting an achievement. She just happened to be the closest unlucky soul when I leveled up and got the perk.

I was going to leave him be, until he called me an "idiot" as I was walking away. Unfortunately for him, Piper wasn't with me at the time...

I think the only thing I've ever felt bad about was shooting a friendly dog by accident. Most wasteland dogs are hostile, so I just shot the poor thing on sight. Didn't realize what I did until I checked his corpse and it said Mutt. Still feel like crap about that...

Haha.. Me too lol

Actually Piper was with me. She seemed indifferent. No message

I would do that too - if it made a difference. But there's no such thing as a hostile takeover with any faction. If there was, I would even ride the Institute train, to steer it in my direction.

Forcing Preston to watch me devour humanoid corpses.


“That's just wrong...”

“Agh, what the hell?”


Yes, Preston. Watch. Watch and weep as your precious General of the Minutemen partake in what is most taboo!

Honestly I've put already put over 300 hours in. I've reached near god status with two characters. I've seen a lot of what the game has to offer. At this point the "little things" start to become overly annoying. Little things rarely get fixed by Bethesda and it takes the wonderful modding community time to sift through all the data and iron things out. I've also been playing on an xbox so none of the issues I'm having can be fixed. Yes my love affair is over and my pc will be here after the holidays.

So succinctly: follower AI, settlement bugs, settlement building seems half finished, persistent corpses/skeletons, radiant quest spam, UI, performance, broken/useless perks, Vault 81 every. single. quest. bugged. Curie always runs back to 81 when dismissed, can wear armor over this but not that and some armor with this(wtf), can apply ballistic weave to this and not that, lack of base weapon options, weapon damage(.50 cal) loot tables concerning legendary items. (ghoul slayer's gamma gun anyone?) Preston Garvey. Follower as a radiant quest giver-> Face. Palm.

How does that even work? Is the cannibal perk still there? I'm asking because so far I only invested in perks I really need and maxed them out. But making Preston watch cannibalism might be worth a point or two.

I started doing this on my current play through. I'm slowing making settlements for the MM. Not turning in MM quests until I'm ready to build another one. Keeping all my settlements very well maintained. It's slow but it's working. I noted however that some of the Settlers are ghouls. Now so far I've put every Settler in Road Leathers so I know who I've assigned and such, but with the ghouls I also put the sack over their heads. Can't have all that ugly in my pretty settlements. I do have one settlement I haven't built up yet. I'm thinking about just sending all the 'bag heads' there and leaving the place a wreck with no defense.

Might be worth noting that this current PC is a BoS follower also.

Forced synths to go back to the Institute. After that I made the decision to end the institute.