The Scribe (Tier 4 merchant)

[Horrigan]

I'm trying to recruit this guy. I have all DLC's installed and I'm in chapter 2 - after BoS arrival and I have completed Automatron DLC. No mods at all. I am also aware of the issues that Automatron DLC causes with random encounters. I've dealt with this problem by using a console command that changes the % chance of Automatron random encounters spawning. Here is the command if anyone is interested:
set DLC01REPercentChance to X
Changed it to 0 and I know it worked because I have not seen any rust devils since then.
For the past few days I've been farming his spawn points like a maniac and I am yet to see him spawn. At some point I thought maybe he is dead so I teleported to his 'room' and no he was not dead so I continued the grind. During my grind I saw all the other random encounters multiple times. Ness which I read somewhere is the rarest of them all spawned 7 times for me. Smiling Larry, Ness, Preston, Manta Man etc... not a problem, seen them all.
Why is The Scribe not spawning at all? Considering how many times I reloaded and tried again (at all his confirmed spawn locations) it is becoming ridiculous. Is he bugged? Maybe he doesn't spawn at all after BoS arrival? Am I doing something wrong? Does anyone have any info that would help me in any way? :D
EDIT: No, I don't want to teleport him to me and recruit him that way.

[NecroMaster]

Those merchants are just far too rare to recruit.

I think I’ve seen the armorer guy once.

I’ve never even seen the others.

[Anissa]

lol I just recruited him like 2 hours ago. He spawned for me near Drumlin Diner. I've seen him several times near there.

[Horrigan]

Originally posted by Tattletale:

lol I just recruited him like 2 hours ago. He spawned for me near Drumlin Diner. I've seen him several times near there.

What level is your character?
Drumlin Diner doesn't spawn encounters for me anymore. Spent a long time farming it probably 200 reloads or more. I don't think I'm that unlucky. Maybe he's bugged in my playthrough... dunno.

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by Horrigan:

I've dealt with this problem by using a console command that changes the % chance of Automatron random encounters spawning. Here is the command if anyone is interested:
set DLC01REPercentChance to X

Nice find. Nobody else has mentioned that before that I noticed.

Originally posted by Horrigan:

Drumlin Diner doesn't spawn encounters for me anymore.

That location tends to break 90% of the time.

Best locations to find the Scribe
- Outside Hester Consumer Robotics in South Boston.
- The road down the middle of Cambridge by Watts
- Near the Combat Zone.

Originally posted by Horrigan:

Why is The Scribe not spawning at all? Considering how many times I reloaded and tried again (at all his confirmed spawn locations) it is becoming ridiculous. Is he bugged?

I have noticed that some games certain results seem to get "locked out." Like unable to find Kelly or Ron Staples.

Originally posted by Horrigan:

What level is your character?

The requirement to recruit him is based upon have a total population of more than 20 and level armor store.

[DouglasGrave]

It sounds like you've just been unlucky, but most random encounter spots with a travelling person on the road should work for the Scribe. Any site where you've managed to find Larry should work equally well for the Scribe, and it is definitely possible for him to appear.

Personally, I like the spot on the river corner near Cambridge Polymer Labs (stop before the crash railings around to the north, then run south to see who comes around the corner), and the one near the south-east corner of Diamond City (stop at the bottom of the southernmost stairs leading up to the road beside Boston Library, then run up the stairs and see who turns up on the road. Both quick and effective for repeated quickloading.

There shouldn't be anything except bad luck stopping him from appearing if he's not in use anywhere else.

[Horrigan]

Originally posted by Bored Peon:

I have noticed that some games certain results seem to get "locked out." Like unable to find Kelly or Ron Staples.

If that's the case then it would be nice to confirm this so that I don't have to waste any more time on a pointless grind if the guy is impossible to spawn.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by Horrigan:

Originally posted by Bored Peon:

I have noticed that some games certain results seem to get "locked out." Like unable to find Kelly or Ron Staples.

If that's the case then it would be nice to confirm this so that I don't have to waste any more time on a pointless grind if the guy is impossible to spawn.

Kelly and Ron Staples usually just get spawned in some isolated location and don't turn up elsewhere because they're already placed. It shouldn't be an issue for the Scribe if you've already checked the holding cell.

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by Horrigan:

Originally posted by Bored Peon:

I have noticed that some games certain results seem to get "locked out." Like unable to find Kelly or Ron Staples.

If that's the case then it would be nice to confirm this so that I don't have to waste any more time on a pointless grind if the guy is impossible to spawn.

Well from my extensive play time I can say there is no way to confirm if it is impossible. It can be just bad RNG rolls.

I have literally had the Scribe pop the first time I visited Drumlin Diner at like level 3 or so.

I can confirm that there is no bad side effects to using the console to enable and move him to you. As I resorted to doing it numerous times after putting in the effort like you did.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by Bored Peon:

I can confirm that there is no bad side effects to using the console to enable and move him to you. As I resorted to doing it numerous times after putting in the effort like you did.

I wouldn't do it myself, since I find it unsatisfying to succeed by any means other than normal play (even if it takes ages, as it often does with all the characters I've had recruit him), but I agree that there shouldn't be any negative effects from it.

He's not involved in any other quests to mess up and he exists only to be recruited.

[Zes]

Okay.. professional here :)

• First you shoudn't initiate The Automatron quest line. More practically; you shouldn't have Rust Devil's Random Encounters.

• Go to the back road of the BoS police station (not the prydwen, the place where you first met Danse)

• Save your game (hard save)

• Load your game and walk alongside of the shore

• Pass the broken billboard on the road and get a random encounter

• If it's not th Scribe, load your save and try again.

You should have him in <50 tries.. but forget about him if you have rust devils activated.

[Nintova]

If it was me, I would make sure Oberland is now part of the minutemen and fortify it with decent defenses ( to ward off raiders/super mutants/rust devils from spawning if you're offset of defense to food/water is high. Then pop in on the regular to see if he's there. All the other spawn points can't be influenced as to what may or may not pop there. Just my H.O. Good luck!

[Horrigan]

Originally posted by Zes:

Okay.. professional here :)

• First you shoudn't initiate The Automatron quest line. More practically; you shouldn't have Rust Devil's Random Encounters.

• Go to the back road of the BoS police station (not the prydwen, the place where you first met Danse)

• Save your game (hard save)

• Load your game and walk alongside of the shore

• Pass the broken billboard on the road and get a random encounter

• If it's not th Scribe, load your save and try again.

You should have him in <50 tries.. but forget about him if you have rust devils activated.

Good advice, thank you. This is where I recruited Smiling Larry. Few problems tho:
1. Cambridge bilboard location is already dry in my playthrough and I don't get any more random encounters there.
2. I already started (and finished) Automatron.

Can you elaborate on why I should forget about him if I have rust devils activated? If you mean because they spawn so often then I've solved that problem and it is explained in my first post how.

[Nintova]

Forgot to mention, head south towards vault 81 along the tracks. If you make it to the mushrooms on the tracks and haven't encountered him. Just reload a save from Oberland and rinse repeat.

[Horrigan]

I think I found the answer... my playthrough is bugged (more on that later). There must be something that you do at some point that prevents the The Scribe and some other NPCs from spawning and I think it could be killing any of the NPCs from The Room before finishing their interactions. How I came to that conclusion? I killed Stash, Simon and Lexa because they were spawning too often for me and I was after The Scribe. You can have multiple encounters with them but I always reloaded when they spawned. I noticed 2 things after killing them:

1 - no NPCs from The Room spawned for me except Gutsy but I did not think much about it because I was after The Scribe only at that point. Already recruited Larry.

2 - Dead bodies of Stash, Simon and Lexa were always in The Room and never despawned. I could always see them whenever I wanted to check if The Scribe is still there (lol)

I decided to start a new game to confirm my theory. After a quick speed run to Drumlin Diner and saying hello to Trashcan Carla I began my testing and... first attempt Kat and Gus, this is where I realised I've never seen them before, found The Scribe in 5 minutes... literally 4 or 5 reloads and he's there... FML.

This would explain why some people have no problems finding him but others spend many hours and can't even spawn him once.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by Horrigan:

I think I found the answer... my playthrough is bugged (more on that later). There must be something that you do at some point that prevents the The Scribe and some other NPCs from spawning and I think it could be killing any of the NPCs from The Room before finishing their interactions. How I came to that conclusion? I killed Stash, Simon and Lexa because they were spawning too often for me and I was after The Scribe. You can have multiple encounters with them. I noticed 2 things after killing them:

1 - no NPCs from The Room spawned for me except Gutsy but I did not think much about it because I was after The Scribe only at that point. Already recruited Larry.

2 - Dead bodies of Stash, Simon and Lexa were always in The Room and never despawned. I could always see them whenever I wanted to check if The Scribe is still there (lol)

I decided to start a new game to confirm my theory. After a quick speed run to Drumlin Diner and saying hello to Trashcan Carla I began my testing and... first attempt Kat and Gus, this is where I realised I've never seen them before, found The Scribe in 5 minutes... literally 4 or 5 reloads and he's there... FML.

It could also be related to visiting the holding cell room at all if you didn't reload after every time you went there, since it means that the NPCs in question have been actively loaded in that location.