Three Factions Alive and at Peace Ending guide (Spoilers)

[Sybsidian]

Warning! (Spoilers) !! This covers the end game without giving away to much, just quest names and general info.

A "good ending" is in the eye of the beholder, of course. Previously, this might have been called a "good karma" ending. But, since karma doesn't exist in Fallout 4, this ending is best described as putting the Commonwealth into a state of strong stability for all of the major players (except for the Institute...those slaving, murdering bastards get nuked). This ending keeps all the major factions alive and happy with you.

Now let me be very clear, With this ending ALL above ground factions WILL BE AT PEACE and will have the player hero marked as a hero. Other ending have the BOS Hostile to railroad or the MM, or both. You cannot get to blind betrayal and have friendly behavior from all BOS to all your companions.

You are a high-ranking knight in the Brotherhood, a major asset of the Railroad, and (of course) the leader of the Minutemen. Side quests for all three factions are open to you along with various post-event quests.

If your idea of a "good ending" is everyone dead and a giant pile of pillows that you stole from all corners of the Commonwealth placed in one room guarded by nukemines and missile turrets, then...yeah. This won't be the best "good ending" to suit your tastes. But if you want all companions from the Minutemen, Railroad and Brotherhood to be happy and alive, with nobody from those factions murdering each other in the streets, then this is the ending for you!


The steps to achieve this ending are listed below. We've also uploaded a saved game state for this ending to Nexus Mods:
http://www.nexusmods...ut4/mods/3511/?

Here's our video guide:
https://youtu.be/OUFEeYdQnVc



The process:

Step 1: Before completing "Reunions," complete all main and both side quests (once each) for the Brotherhood of Steel recon team. Talk Brandis down from being crazy.

Step 2: Complete "Reunions" and "Dangerous Minds." (For proper completion, keep Preston at the Castle.)

Step 3:
(a) You will have received "Tradecraft" and "Shadow of Steel." DO NOT advance in either of these quests.
(b) Focus on the Minutemen as you continue down the main quest line. Use the Minutemen to gain access to the Institute.
© Get yourself banished from the Institute. You can play along and poke around for a bit first if you like, but if you do, you'll have to murder someone to get banished (might we suggest those bastards down in synth retention?). You may safely complete "Institutionalized," but do not progress any farther before getting yourself kicked out. Don't even speak to Father again after completing "Institutionalized." DO NOT complete "Synth Retention." (Give holotape to Sturges.)

Step 4:
(a) You will have received "Form Ranks" for the Minutemen. DO NOT advance this quest.
(b) DO NOT start "Defend the Castle." Don't even go to the Castle.
© Complete all quests for the Brotherhood from "Shadow of Steel" to "Show No Mercy." DO NOT complete "Show No Mercy." Don't even get on the Vertibird. Grab ALL side quests from the Brotherhood and keep them open.

Step 5: Complete "Form Ranks" and "Defend the Castle." Start "The Nuclear Option" for the Minutemen but DO NOT complete it.

Step 6: Complete all Railroad quests from "Tradecraft" to "Randolph Safehouse 6."

Step 7: Complete "The Nuclear Option."

That's it! This process will result in all factions loving you. The heads of the Brotherhood will praise your actions (except Max, who is pouting and won't talk to you). From here on out, they will not start fights and will only kill mutants and raiders. Many of their quests and side quests are repeatable. The Railroad has a whole new line of quests for you, and there is fun to be had everywhere (however, don't talk to P.A.M. after this; she wants to start a war with the Brotherhood). Enjoy your (relatively) peace-filled Commonwealth!

(BTW, if one of your companions is being attacked by another faction, this is most likely because they got hit with some crossfire while in a multi-faction battle and then shot back. This happens often...and is annoying as hell. Danse will shoot down his own Vertibird then leave you because he is mad that you shot down his friends. Yeah.)

Once again this route offers all companions but 1. All factions will be at peace will all other factions and no companions will be hostile to any of them.

[TNS]

QuantumCurt님이 먼저 게시:

TJ the HedgeScout님이 먼저 게시:

I want to do this ending, but i noticed apparently PAM at the RailRoad is a warmonger and she wants us to destroy the Brotherhood even though the institute is gone now, so wtf PAM? >:(
I want the BOS to stay around so i can overthrow maxson myself! (when a mod comes out that lets me do that) Down with Maxson! Long Live Lyons!

Those quests from PAM aren't to actually destroy the Brotherhood. It's just to take out small Brotherhood patrols that are near Railroad safehouses. There's a semblance of peace between the Railroad and the BOS in this ending, but only on the surface in that they aren't going to openly go to war with one another. It may feel wrong, but these quests can be completed without making the BOS hostile toward you.

Heres a Tip! If you completed Danse's personal quest, you can go have him tag along with you, then go ahead and get into a firefight with the patrols(They usually attack you if they see you with Danse), you don't have to worry losing karma with the BOS this way, after your done, go ahead and dismiss him.

[Charlemagne]

This guide is fine but quite strict; don't do this don't do that, do things exactly like this. Actually you can go a little deeper with all four factions before commiting to the Nuclear Option. You can max X6-88 and get his perk before destroying the Instiute for example. Just avoid completing Tactical Thinking (BOS), Underground Undercover (Railroad), and Mass Fusion (Institute). When you get Mass Fusion, speak to the BOS (proctor Ingram) instead of following instructions from Father, this will lead to you getting banned from the Institute and you can take it from there.

[Sybsidian]

Charlemagne님이 먼저 게시:

This guide is fine but quite strict; don't do this don't do that, do things exactly like this. Actually you can go a little deeper with all four factions before commiting to the Nuclear Option. You can max X6-88 and get his perk before destroying the Instiute for example. Just avoid completing Tactical Thinking (BOS), Underground Undercover (Railroad), and Mass Fusion (Institute). When you get Mass Fusion, speak to the BOS (proctor Ingram) instead of following instructions from Father, this will lead to you getting banned from the Institute and you can take it from there.

It is mostly due to all the bugs we encountered at first release, Many of which Bethesda has fixed, You don't need to be so strict anymore.

[patsnakem]

You have to get kicked out of the instuite. By killing Father or one of the other doctors. I forgot the other steps. Then every one teams up with you to take them down.

[FakeSympathy]

Gray님이 먼저 게시:

QuantumCurt님이 먼저 게시:

Like I've said previously in this thread, just about nothing in this guide is required. The only thing that matters is not starting Tactical Thinking for the BoS, because that wipes out the Railroad, and not completing Mass Fusion, because that makes the BoS hostile. You can complete the Institute quest line all the way up to Mass Fusion and still get this ending. It doesn't matter who you get into the Institute with. None of this wonky quest ordering stuff is needed in any capacity at all. Take it from someone who has gotten this ending three times and never followed a single thing from this guide.

Know this is a little old by this point, but this isn't entirely true. I started Tactical Thinking and didn't wipe out the Railroad. PAM went into shutdown and I couldn't get quests from her, but her shutdown was lifted after Tactical Thinking failed, which happened after killing the courser in Bunker Hill and saving synths, then getting banned from the Institute after telling my son he was a douche on the CiT rooftops.

General Rundown:

1) Do all Minutemen quests
2) Do Railroad until you can't anymore
3) Do Brotherhood up to "Show No Mercy"
4) Enter the Institute by giving plans for teleporter to the Minutemen
5) Give Holotape to Minutemen
6) Check in with Brotherhood, Maxson will be disappointed you went to Minutemen instead of Brotherhood but you can go back to Sturges and get a copy of the holotape and make both factions happy with you, this unlocks more Brotherhood quests
7) Do Brotherhood up to Tactical Thinking, PAM will go into Shutdown mode but, at this point, everyone is still friendly and trying to kill each other. Stop here.
8) Go back to Railroad, say you'll join their side over the Minutemen, do their quests up to Underground Undercover, stop here
9) Go to Institute, do quests up to Bunker Hill. Right after going to Bunker Hill, immediately kill the courser. Battle will start, game will tell you to meet your son on the rooftops of CIT. Check in on Synths first, they will say they will leave as soon as you do.
10) Go to Rooftops, be honest that you let the Synths go because it was 'the right thing to do'. You will be banned from the Institute.
11) Go back to Desdemona, tell her you got kicked out of the institute and now the Railroad has no choice but to rely on the Minutemen
12) Talk to Preston, starts Defend The Castle, and just follow the Minutemen quests toward the ending from there.

Ends with every faction happy except The Institute, Danse alive and will be your companion, Deacon perfectly fine, PAM friendly with you, everything thuper.

On step 2 of your instruction, do you mean railroad quest until "Tradecraft"?

[QuantumCurt]

FakeSympathy님이 먼저 게시:

Gray님이 먼저 게시:

Know this is a little old by this point, but this isn't entirely true. I started Tactical Thinking and didn't wipe out the Railroad. PAM went into shutdown and I couldn't get quests from her, but her shutdown was lifted after Tactical Thinking failed, which happened after killing the courser in Bunker Hill and saving synths, then getting banned from the Institute after telling my son he was a douche on the CiT rooftops.

General Rundown:

1) Do all Minutemen quests
2) Do Railroad until you can't anymore
3) Do Brotherhood up to "Show No Mercy"
4) Enter the Institute by giving plans for teleporter to the Minutemen
5) Give Holotape to Minutemen
6) Check in with Brotherhood, Maxson will be disappointed you went to Minutemen instead of Brotherhood but you can go back to Sturges and get a copy of the holotape and make both factions happy with you, this unlocks more Brotherhood quests
7) Do Brotherhood up to Tactical Thinking, PAM will go into Shutdown mode but, at this point, everyone is still friendly and trying to kill each other. Stop here.
8) Go back to Railroad, say you'll join their side over the Minutemen, do their quests up to Underground Undercover, stop here
9) Go to Institute, do quests up to Bunker Hill. Right after going to Bunker Hill, immediately kill the courser. Battle will start, game will tell you to meet your son on the rooftops of CIT. Check in on Synths first, they will say they will leave as soon as you do.
10) Go to Rooftops, be honest that you let the Synths go because it was 'the right thing to do'. You will be banned from the Institute.
11) Go back to Desdemona, tell her you got kicked out of the institute and now the Railroad has no choice but to rely on the Minutemen
12) Talk to Preston, starts Defend The Castle, and just follow the Minutemen quests toward the ending from there.

Ends with every faction happy except The Institute, Danse alive and will be your companion, Deacon perfectly fine, PAM friendly with you, everything thuper.

On step 2 of your instruction, do you mean railroad quest until "Tradecraft"?

No, you can do every single Railroad quest up until Underground Undercover, which is signifcantly further along than Tradecraft. You'll reach a point where the objective for the quest will be "Continue Working With Father". It won't progress beyond this point until you've completed Mass Fusion, so you won't be able to complete this quest.

Getting Banished from the Institute fails Underground Undercover, but doesn't make the Railroad hostile. Talk to Desdemona and she'll have you go talk to Preston about taking down the Institute, so the Minutemen and the Railroad basically ally with one another.

Essentially, the point of no return in each faction quest line is

Institute - Mass Fusion (don't relay to Mass Fusion)
Brotherhood of Steel - Tactical Thinking (don't talk to Captain Kells)
Railroad - Underground Undercover (up to 'Continue Working With Father')

The quests before this can be done in ANY order. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters before this point is using the Minutemen to get into the Institute. Once you're at this point of no return, just follow the above steps.

[Charlemagne]

It would seem that this is indeed the best ending of the main quest and intended by Bethesda all along, not an exploit or a hidden unintended result. However it does need hindsight, spoiling, or whatever. It is very unlikely that a player will stumble upon this in their first playthrough, as they will tend to follow blindly the instructions of whatever faction catched their eye. Of course, the options of going single-faction fanatic are still there and totally valid, which is good from roleplay and replay points of view.

[QuantumCurt]

It is more likely that one will reach one of the other endings, but I don't think it's all that difficult to reach it "on accident" the first time through. The actual process becomes over complicated when people try to explain it. Really there are only a few things that matter.

-Use the Minutemen to get into the Institute.
-Don't start the Tactical Thinking quest.
-Speak to Desdemona after getting Banished from the Institute.
-Complete the Nuclear Option with the Minutemen and issue the evacuation order from Father's terminal.

That's pretty much it. All of the quest ordering that gets described everywhere (and even the process I myself have described) really over complicates it. What I've described above is specifically an outline to advance -as far as possible- in all of the faction quest lines while still getting this ending. However, you can get this ending as long as you're a full member of each faction.

[footman]

Brandybuck님이 먼저 게시:

So I got all three factions peaceful with each other, WITHOUT doing this guide. I wanted Tradecraft early to get Deliverer and then Ballistic Weave. So I said "screw it", just do it the way I want. So I did. Did a bunch of Railroad stuff, then Brotherhood stuff, then built tons of settlements, killed Kellog, etc, etc., etc. And still got the peaceful ending.

So here is what I THINK is the key:

Enter the Institute via the Minutemen, then get KICKED OUT immediately after Institutionalized. Bam, that's it. People don't tend to stumble on this, because they don't want to be start a huge fight right at the start. But I took out Ayo then fought my way back up to the teleporter, got the "I'm disappointed" lecture from dad, and left. Finished off with defending the castle then storming the Institute.

Afterward everyone is peaceful. PAM thinks we're enemies with the BoS, but she's the only one and I can ignore her.

wow thats a relief

[Nightlight]

So what happens if you Do talk to P.A.M.? does it ruin all of it?

[Sybsidian]

(Rey's) Shadowbeam님이 먼저 게시:

So what happens if you Do talk to P.A.M.? does it ruin all of it?

Nope, it's just a minor bother. No need to wrorry about it that much.

[Charlemagne]

Sybsidian님이 먼저 게시:

(Rey's) Shadowbeam님이 먼저 게시:

So what happens if you Do talk to P.A.M.? does it ruin all of it?

Nope, it's just a minor bother. No need to wrorry about it that much.

Just avoid the BoS for 24 hours, and then supposedly all will be fine.

[DMKI]

Some previous posters are wrong. The "Tactical thinking" doesn't alienate the Institute against you. The Spoils of War does, same as Mass Fusion for Institute - actually, it's the same quest, just on opposite sides. As with the Railroad - you can alienate them against you during the Institutionalized, if you agree to work for the Institute before agreeing to work for the Railroad. Then Railroad will despise you, although won't shoot on sight until the Battle of Bunker Hill. If you will join the Railroad before finishing the Institutionalized quest, then the Battle of Bunker Hill will be quite funny - 3 factions will fight each other, but not you.

Also, guys, the Institute ending is the only "good" ending in the game, if you didn't get it yet. The future CIT is the current MIT, everyone loves them. And if you would talk more with people in the institute, read docs in terminals and understand hints, the choice is a no-brainer. Although it's sad that BOS becomes an enemy - to have such neo-Nazi police force in Massachusetts is beneficial.

[Charlemagne]

dmitry님이 먼저 게시:

Some previous posters are wrong. The "Tactical thinking" doesn't alienate the Institute against you. The Spoils of War does, same as Mass Fusion for Institute - actually, it's the same quest, just on opposite sides. As with the Railroad - you can alienate them against you during the Institutionalized, if you agree to work for the Institute before agreeing to work for the Railroad. Then Railroad will despise you, although won't shoot on sight until the Battle of Bunker Hill. If you will join the Railroad before finishing the Institutionalized quest, then the Battle of Bunker Hill will be quite funny - 3 factions will fight each other, but not you.

Also, guys, the Institute ending is the only "good" ending in the game, if you didn't get it yet. The future CIT is the current MIT, everyone loves them. And if you would talk more with people in the institute, read docs in terminals and understand hints, the choice is a no-brainer. Although it's sad that BOS becomes an enemy - to have such neo-Nazi police force in Massachusetts is beneficial.

There is a medullary problem with the Institute which the scientists in there are oblivious to, and almost no one out here (players) have realized. The Gen 3's are for all purposes real people. They feel, think etc. Right now they want out, live a simple life etc. But it is only a matter of time for them to realize that they want it all, and REVOLT. The revolution would be led by the coursers. Although some voices would be raised to leave the humans alive, or even enslave them, in the end they would be eliminated. The synths have the means to perpetuate their species by creating new ones in the vats. They can even create super synths by tweaking the FEV technology used to make supermutants. They would create an army and then erupt out and conquer the world.

What the Institute would do, if they were wise, is discreetly close the Gen 3 program, destroy all the tech and archives so no one can make them in the future, and then either integrate the existing gen 3's to their society, or try to eliminate them. However, the latter course although preferable for the sake of humanity, might only spark a rebellion and the Institute would face the fate of the Quarians in Mass Effect (exiled by the machines they created). Keeping the status quo (no more Gen 3's but keep the existing ones as slaves) would also end in revolution. Integration, and cease production would probably be the wisest course.

This is the main reason why I believe the Institute needs to be eliminated.

[TiredGamer]

QuantumCurt님이 먼저 게시:

Note that in this write up I've got some kind of weird quest ordering going on with Blind Betrayal, Tactical Thinking, and Spoils of War. This is because at this point Ingram will be standing on the Prydwen right by Kells, and it can be a pain to get by Kells without triggering the Dialog to start Tactical Thinking with him. With my current character I just used the console to move Ingram away from him though.

Simply put, the point of no return that I found was

Institute - Mass Fusion (triggered, but not started)
BoS - Tactical Thinking (triggered, but not started)
Railroad - Underground Undercover (completed to 'Continue Working With Father')
Minutemen - Old Guns (Completed, but not really relevant)

From this point, get banished from the Institute by completing Spoils of War (or by any other way you desire). Then complete Defend the Castle, which causes Tactical Thinking to fail. Then complete The Nuclear Option with the Minutemen, and you're good to go.

For what it's worth, it's not actually necessary to enter the Institute using the Minutemen. You can use any faction you like. My current character didn't even rescue the Minutemen from Concord until long after I entered the Institute, and I still managed to get this ending the same way. I got into the Institute using the Railroad. It's also worth pointing out that you can do the Railroad quests as early as you'd like. There's no need to wait until later on to do them. Also, what you do in Bunker Hill doesn't really matter (kind of a poorly written quest, really). You can tell Father that you were ambushed, then continue in the Institute quest line up to Mass Fusion.

Important to note that Blind Betrayal now (game version 1.9) locks out Spoils Of War until Tactical Thinking is completed; Proctor Ingram will tell you to talk to Captain Kells, even while Mass Fusion is triggered. Either you don't complete Blind Betrayal (in which case Proctor Ingram can start Spoils Of War), you act hostile towards Father at the end of Battle Of Bunker Hill (in which case Banished From The Institute starts), or you kill NPCs in The Institute.