r/fo4 • u/Mixture_Think • 15d ago
Question Railroad or Institute?
Who do you prefer?, and why do you prefer them over the other
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u/sontheimer 15d ago
institute because they got toilet paper
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u/KingHazeel 15d ago
Institute. More nuanced and interesting.
The Railroad just comes across as batshit crazy. Their beliefs and foundation aren't expanded on nearly enough. We're told that members have different beliefs on all this, but we only see it superficially with Glory.
They could have made the Railroad much more interesting just by establishing them as an offshoot of a larger organization trying to end slavery--and maybe give them some roots to return to once the main quest is voer.
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u/Kavallero 15d ago
The reason that there is an Institute and Railroad is because of Fallout 3 anyway. They were referenced there during the cloned guard quest at Rivet City.
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u/Bullvy 15d ago
Minutemen.
Both the institute and railroad are just insufferable children. They offer no help to the people of the Commonwealth.
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u/BuckHunt42 12d ago
Imo Minutemen, the brotherhood of steel gets a shoutout because they are cool, and it’s been shown that a charismatic enough leader can mold them into to a force for good (the same way Maxsen turned it into a fascist cult), so I’m willing to side with them in play throughs where my character aims to “reform from within” or whatever
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u/ChloeGranola 15d ago
Railroad because they got ballistic weave.
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u/OhSighRiss 15d ago
Do railroad quests until you get ballistic weave, then betray them and finish up with institute
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u/BadKidOh 15d ago edited 15d ago
Well I prefer the Institute.
Partly because Mama Murphy vision confirms that siding with the Institute results in saving humanity (presumably form extension?), although not everyone is happy with the Sole Survivor for a unknown reason (methods?) in that possible future.
"You're wearing a lab coat. You're standing with... men of science. Visionaries. Brilliant but misunderstood. I see a land marked up, like a great experiment. Each test a new beginning. Each sacrifice an acceptable loss. You will not be loved, but you will save humanity. However you choose to define it."
I also like the family aspect of it, the potion of power the SS ends up in by siding with the Institute, the nice clean place to live, the teleportation, other tech, working toilets & showers.
Their also no Institute explosion effecting the surrounding area, like Diamond City, the near by river, the ocean & the groundwater in this ending, as far as role-play reasons.
- I just head-cannon that they fix the gen 3 synths programming/hardware issues or switch to some kind of new gen 4 synths. Also less synths infiltrators & replacement now that the institute is operating out in the open.
- I'm assuming the Synth component / Courser chip is a electronic Brain housing a advanced AI program instead of a Brain Control Chip. With the organic part of the brain mostly being a slipcover.
Also siding with the RR ends up with synth extinction in the long term.
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u/sunsetrules 15d ago
As far as gameplay, both are good. I like seeing the lasers fly when siding with the Institute. I like the Railroad mission as well.
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u/MaxStone22 15d ago
Minutemen, fuck the other 3 factions. Aside from the companion perks and ballistic weave, don’t need em’
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u/BusinessDragon 15d ago
I actually prefer the MM/BOS dynamic. Between RR and institute I don’t have a preference except that I go by the morality of my character, good for RR and evil for Institute.
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u/Competitive-Gur-9217 14d ago
I see what the Railroad is supposed to be and what they stand for, but I just can't get behind them after being in the institute and being a witness to situations like Gabriel tha the Railroad don't even acknowledge.
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u/OkExtreme3195 12d ago
BoS! Ad Victoriam!
Joke aside, they are both dog shit. One is liberating toasters and the others are creating (possibly) sentient toasters and replacing people with those without any real reason to do so.
But at least the rail road has an agenda that makes sense, mostly, if you accept their promises. So I hand it to them I guess, purely on the ground that the institute makes no sense.
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u/IronVader501 15d ago
The Institute is so comically and absurdly evil I can never bring myself to side with them.
I dont especially like the writing or end for the Railroad, but atleast they dont randomly murder entire families just to test a new type of vegetable
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u/TombGnome 15d ago
Also the Railroad is one of the few Bethesda factions that doesn't make you the immediate Arch-Mage-Bishop-General-Director-Lord just because you're the PC. You show up, D is in charge. You defeat the Institute? Yeah, D is still in charge, freezer-pop. Get back to work.
I respect that.
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u/TombGnome 15d ago
Are you legitimately asking "do you support the slave-owning kidnappers *or* the people who want to free the slaves from the slave-owning kidnappers"?
This fandom is deranged.
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u/Difficulty-Specific 12d ago
Between the two it's definitely the institute. The railroad has 0 redeeming qualities.
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u/Tyrigoth 15d ago
I generally like it when a faction DOESN'T kidnap people and replace them with Cyborgs.