I think this is a safe bet. The Institute goes up in a mushroom cloud in 3 out of 4 endings. The other groups needn't have gone down too to have left the Commonwealth. So that leaves the Minutemen, the inevitable rise of an east coast government, and the BoS as some paramilitary country spanning organization intended to keep humanity from wrecking itself again. Then the People's Commonwealth Alliance (name pulled from where the sun don't shine) and New California Republic meet at some point during their expansion, tensions rise and negotions break down, and then we get another case of "War... war never changes." Somewhere in there, the BoS is actually trying to play referee and damage control.

The Minutemen ending is the most unrealistic one. They are basically non existent when the player meets Preston. They would never stand a chance against the Institute or the BoS especially if you consider that they also have to fight against raiders, gunners and super mutants.

The Institute has an army of obedient teleporting robot foot soldiers and they can infiltrate other organisation with perfect sleeper agents. The BoS has highly trained soldiers with power armour and Vertibirds.

The Minutemen are a bunch of backstabbers -they refused to come to aid their comrades when they needed them in the Quincy massacre- with weapons made out of junk.

Both the institute and the BoS could easily size the castle, either by an direct attack or by destroying their supply lines and waiting until they starve.

And there is no way the Minutemen/the Sole Survivor could find more gear than the Institute or the BoS. Both Institute and BoS have scavenged the wastelands for decades or centuries with dozens of people or hundreds of Synths.

"Here we stand, once again, on the precipice of nuclear annihilation. The American nations on the brink of an inevitable conflict. Brother killing brother over uncompromising ideals. A good friend of mine once told me that "War never changes". Perhaps I was too young to understand what he meant. Or perhaps I was too prideful. Our once steel-clad heroes have fallen to sedition and corruption. Usurped from within by the very enemies we most despised. Is this what I fought and bled for all my life? Is this what my pride has wrought? I now see that my friend was right. War; war never changes." -- Arthur Maxson former Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel, 2317

I don't have time to read the entire thread, but I feel that the Minutemen are the best choice and I stuck with them to the end. But my character has a combo of Minutemen/BoS support.

It seems that a lot of people in some forums that I've browsed seem to go into historic blah blahs about each and over-anolyzing everything to the point where it's almost silly.

Here is my simple take on each:

BoS - I have always liked them, but THIS time around they seem a bit power hungry. Not siding with them because they want to eliminate ghouls, super mutants and synths is a ridiculous reason though.

Institute - After they have victimized you, it's a bit hard to side with them despite the information that comes to light. I just don't trust them and there seems to be a shroud of mystery that I don't like.

Railroad - They seemed to weird to join up with. I didn't get much of a chance to get to know them because I did a quest that turned them into enemies.

Minutemen - Rebuilding, caring, sharing... However, they did do what they needed to do when the time came.

So in short...the best combo for me was Minutemen/BoS

I kind of doubt it. The Minutemen are kind of an optional faction.

So is the BoS.

No, they're really not. Not the way the Minutemen are. The Minutemen are to give reason for settlement building, which is entirely optional. You can go through probably the entire game without having anything to do with them. The same is not true for the Railroad, Institute or Brotherhood.

You can complete the game without ever talking with a BoS member.

More advantageous, perhaps. More practical, probably not. Compared to teleporters and vertibirds, artillery is easier to manufacture and operate, and requires no power beyond muscle and propellant.

Not to mention that the Brotherhood should soon run out of vertibirds considering how often they get shot down and crash.

Yes, oddly enough the only two factions which you are required to interact with on some level (beyond just shooting) are The Railroad and The Institute to complete the main quest.

Both The Brotherhood and Minutemen are entirely optional.

Yes, but regardless of what you do, they will still have a presence in the game. You will probably even need to go kill them. Skip Concord and the Minutemen simply don't exist.


No matter what you do or which faction you choose, the Brotherhood has a role to play, even if it is just for you to kill them. The Minutemen are only ever involved in anything if you specific choose to side with them and make them involved.

The minutemen are involved in the Institute questline.Perhaps they aren't if you don't save Preston.Dunno.

Also the Minutemen questline does not involve the BoS if you are at peace with them.

What, once? For one little thing? Whoop de Doo.


No matter what you do or what choices you make, the Railroad, the Institute and the Brotherhood are major factions in the end game. The Minutemen only ever amount to anything worth noting if take the time to make them so.

But the minutemen are the only faction that will persist after the endgame,no matter what ending you choose.

Also they have a lot of possible quests and outcomes,they weren't just slapped in the MQ at the last minute.They are FO4 version of yes-men.

How do they persist if you never meet Preston, muchless help him reform the MM?

I mean that there is no possible scenario in game where the minutemen are removed from the chessboard.

The Institute?Can be removed from the map.

The Railroad?Can be viciously slaughtered.

The BoS?They can be exploded and massacred in a handful of ways.

The Minutemen?They either become the eternal overlords of the castle or are waiting for you in Concord,alive and well after a < insert game time here> long shootout.

You can put a bullet in the heads of Dez,Father and Maxon as soon as you step inside the institute.

I know that is basically Plot Armor for the Minutemen,but still.

That's because they are an optional side faction that the main question ultimately has no real impact on.


The three main factions have this circle of hate going where each faction wants you to wipe out the other two, but no one asks you to wipe out the Minutemen. They sit off to the side in their own little world, getting involved as a major faction only if you involve them. And that makes perfect sense. Since they are tied so intrinsically to an option part of the game, there will be games where they effectively don't exist. Therefore they cannot have an important role in the ending. Their part in the end game has to be one that can be completely cut out at ignored without negatively impacting the game.


The same is not true for the Brotherhood. Even if you never talk to a member of the Brotherhood, the moment you kill Kellogg the Prydwyn shows up, the air is filled with crashing vertibirds and Brotherhood patrols march down the streets.

Yeah the minutemen are basically the player's jolly card.Their private army In case they decide that giving their A**es to one of the other 3 factions isn't worth their support.

Speaking of which, there really *should* be a way to backstab them.

Technically though, you can sort of dismantle them yourself. Cut power to the Castle and remove radio Freedom, scrap anything you've built there, scrap any artillery pieces in any settlements, and scatter whatever Minutemen there are to the four winds. And then never do another minutemen quest again.

They'll still respond to the flare-gun of course. But for all intents and purposes, left without communication lines or a 'headquarters', the Minutemen as an 'organized' force is gone. You're just left with independent fighters.

And that is what makes them optional in ways that the other three are not.

You're aware that you can skip returning to sanctuary/conchord and go straight to Goodneighbor and start the mainquest in the memory den, yes?

MM are completely optional. They will die out when preston commits suicide.

Ahah that made me laugh.Whenever I talk to Preston I get the impression that he is about to pull out a razorblade and cut his wirsts.

Being optional also the reason why the Minutemen will probably be the canon ending. They can't be wiped out by anyone, including the player, but they *can* be made into a strong force. As far as the other three factions, how would it be determined which of them would be chosen?

Well the Bos and Minutemen endinga can both be canon without much difference,as long as the bos was not the enemy.

The only difference will be the railroad being alive or not,but I doubt that the railroad will be a big player in future games.