Question about cleaning up the Castle

[Elegant Caveman]

I intend to do the Taking Independence[fallout.wiki] quest for the Minutemen, but I'm tempted to clear the Castle[fallout.wiki] by myself before doing the quest, so that the squishy minutemen don't die.

This bit in the Notes section of the Castle page is giving me pause, though:

It is possible to clear out the Castle before the Minutemen retake it during Taking Independence. When Preston Garvey asks the Sole Survivor if the Minutemen are ready to take back the Castle, one has the option to say that they have already cleared the place out.

The mess created by the mirelurks and the eggs (intact or smashed) will remain if the player character takes this route. The Minutemen appear to clean up the mess once they arrive, although this may take some time to happen. Afterward, it will be identical to the outcome of taking it with the Minutemen, aside from any goo piles that may have been caused by the mirelurk queen killing them with acid.

Specifically, the "The mess created by the mirelurks and the eggs (intact or smashed) will remain if the player character takes this route." part.

Because then it says that the minutemen clean it up and it's like doing the quest normally? So I'm confused.

Is it:

1. That if you clear the Castle alone before doing Taking Independence, there's stuff that would normally have gotten cleaned up in the quest that won't get cleaned up at all? Or...
   
   
2. That if you clear the Castle alone, things won't get cleaned up until you do the quest, but when you do, everything will get cleaned up normally? Or...
   
   
3. Something else, and I'm just misunderstanding everything?

Basically, I'd like the minutemen to live, but if it's between that and having to deal with a mess (I'd rather not use the console & disable/markfordelete if I can avoid it), I think I'd just rather have them die.

So I'm trying to decide if I should go pre-clear the Castle before doing Taking Independence, or not.

Thoughts welcome, especially from personal experience.

Cheers.

EDIT: Well, finally got around to doing it, and I can confirm that the Minutemen clean things up even if you clear it without them before doing the quest.

Thanks again, everyone!

[keileigh091307]

alot of times for me, is that i clear the castle before the ' taking independence ' quest. the only time i notice it being cleaned up is when you have to do the ' old guns ' quest. the one where you have to emplace artillery at the castle. i myself don't really worry about how it looks after i clear it. hope this helps.

[RaNgeR]

You can clear the castle before doing the quest, which will skip the combat with the mirelurks. The only thing that will remain is the just the eggs which will spawn with the start of the quest.

[Elegant Caveman]

Originally posted by keileigh091307:

alot of times for me, is that i clear the castle before the ' taking independence ' quest. the only time i notice it being cleaned up is when you have to do the ' old guns ' quest. the one where you have to emplace artillery at the castle. i myself don't really worry about how it looks after i clear it. hope this helps.

I've read that the "natural" clean up from Taking Independence takes a couple of days, and Old Guns happens a couple of days after Taking Independence, so that makes sense.

So you're saying that even when you clear the Castle yourself before doing Taking Independence, it gets cleaned up by the time you do Old Guns?

That sounds promising.

Originally posted by 1545242564528:

i think it doesn't clean if you kill everything without the quest and preston.

my advice , do it with preston,
select each minutemen except preston with console and type

modav health 100000

since you don't know in advance who's the one who can die.
with 100000 health he' ll stay alive

Oh, that's an interesting idea. Another approach, thanks.

Though I'm always paranoid about using the console to change things, especially during an active quest.

Originally posted by RaNgeR:

You can clear the castle before doing the quest, which will skip the combat with the mirelurks. The only thing that will remain is the just the eggs which will spawn with the start of the quest.

Right, but the question is if they get cleaned up like they're supposed to after Taking Independence if you cleared the area by yourself first.

Logically, they would/should, and the above quote from the wiki is just saying that the nests/egg clusters remain after you clear the Castle without being on the quest, since they're basically quest objects, but Bethesda being Bethesda, I wouldn't be surprised if clearing the area on your own before doing the quest breaks something, so they don't get cleared when you do the actual quest.

That's why I'm worried about this. Buggy Bethesda + unclear wiki description.

[Zekiran]

Don't bother cleaning it up until the full mission is done, really, that's the easiest method.

I've made that mistake on numerous occasions, I just prefer to wait until all of it cleans itself.

[Elegant Caveman]

Originally posted by Zekiran:

Don't bother cleaning it up until the full mission is done, really, that's the easiest method.

I've made that mistake on numerous occasions, I just prefer to wait until all of it cleans itself.

That's the question, though: will it clean itself after I do Taking Independence if I go clear it/kill the mirelurks on my own before doing the quest?

The note in the wiki on the topic is ambiguous.

[Bored Peon]

I clear the mobs then build the radio connection. After that I leave for a day a come back and it is cleaned up.

[Zekiran]

yeah once the actual quests are done, just come back after a few days of wandering around.

[Old Ben]

I do the quest, then I enable a mod to clean the castle and rebuild the ugly wall. Sleep for a day then go back to the castle and it looks great and ready to build whatever I want. At this point it becomes my home base instead of Sanctuary.

[Elegant Caveman]

Well, consensus seems to be that #2 is the case. Thanks everyone.

I'll probably try clearing the Castle on my own first, but just right before I'm ready to do Taking Independence, so if something goes wrong, I won't have to go back too far.

Originally posted by Old Ben:

I so the quest, then I enable a mod to clean the castle and rebuild the ugly wall.

Ah, right, forgot to mention: I'm not using mods, and don't want to use mods.

[carl.wear]

A few years ago I figured out how to get inside it without needing the minutemen. Just put a water tap by the wall but turn it around the wrong way. So when you drink from it, the animation turns you around and puts you on the other side of the wall. Stop drinking and now you are inside it. Just fast travel to get out again.

[eMYNOCK]

when you clear the castle allone the mirelurk flith will remain until you allow the minutemen to setup their radio station by doing "Taking Independence".

After that it takes one or two ingame days of not being at the castle for the filth to vanish and everything exept the armory (huge yellow bastdoor) to be build up how ever you like.

[DouglasGrave]

For those who think the Minutemen never seem to do anything themselves, we can definitely credit them with cleaning the Castle of mirelurk gunk.

[Zekiran]

Whenever you do anything at the castle involving ANY NPC interaction (scripted, not just 'buying stuff from your own settlers'), leaving and returning a few days later will progress its visuals and reset the cell properly. So that's why you should just. Wait it out until you have full command over it, to build or scrap.

Originally posted by DouglasGrave:

For those who think the Minutemen never seem to do anything themselves, we can definitely credit them with cleaning the Castle of mirelurk gunk.

They will be having mirelurk cakes and omlettes for YEARS.

[Elegant Caveman]

Originally posted by Zekiran:

Whenever you do anything at the castle involving ANY NPC interaction (scripted, not just 'buying stuff from your own settlers'), leaving and returning a few days later will progress its visuals and reset the cell properly. So that's why you should just. Wait it out until you have full command over it, to build or scrap.

Interesting. Good to know, thanks.

By "full command", do you mean I shouldn't bother doing anything there until after Old Guns?

[Zekiran]

Yes, that's a vital quest to say the least.

Once you have Artillery available to your settlements the only other quests will depend on your other actions and won't have profound impact on the visuals.