Fallout 4: Angel's Pip-Boy Diary #27 · 10:16am Apr 25th, 2016
art by Argodaemon
Welcome back to Angel’s Pip-Boy Diary! This is a big one. Not only is it another longer-than-normal entry, but this installment covers one of my favorite sequences of events in the game so far. 
I’m posting this installment of APBD now as a little celebration. Sunday night, Strategic Jordan put out the newest part of his Let’s Read Fallout: Equestria series, and it is a part of the story I’ve been eagerly awaiting his reaction to for months. (I’m writing this just before I watch it. I’m so nervouscited! 
) I’ve provided the video below.
In Fallout news, I have learned that Far Harbor and the G.E.C.K. are both still in closed beta. So they are coming, and active work is being done with them, but the rest of us may have a bit longer to wait. Sounds like it will be worth it though. Far Harbor looks like it is going to have a lot to appeal to wasteland explorers, and a fair bit of goodies for builders too. (Including adding elevators to settlement construction options!)
Also, a little something fun. Dr. Dissonance is a brilliant brony musician who was probably the first to create music based on Fallout: Equestria, including his amazing Fallout: Equestria theme (included below). He as recently created a beautiful Fallout: Zootopia theme song, inspired by similarities in the music. As I absolutely loved Zootopia, and of course love Fallout, I am totally on board with this mash-up. Check out Dr. Dissonance’s piece through the link above.
Dr. Dissonance’s theme song for Fallout: Equestria
Finally, a little earlier this week, I noticed a brony who had been targeted by trolls (or one using several accounts), and asked folks to sent him some positive and encouraging comments. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who did so. 
Moments like this remind me how wonderful this community can be.
Angel's Pip-Boy Diary below the break.
art by Fredcreator97
Angel's Pip-Boy Diary
Day’s 47 - 48
Day 47 – Late Morning
December 9, 2287I slept in until ten in the morning. Woke up fresh and well-rested, ready to tackle the day. It was a good feeling.
The feeling persisted through breakfast. After that, I fixed up the power armor station and checked in with Preston. Today’s goals: travel to each settlement, touching based and tending to their needs, as well as arranging further improvements. I promised Preston that we would tackle Castle soon.
Preston has done amazing work helping build up Hangman’s Alley. Construction on this scale would have taken forever on my own, even with my power armor hooked up to the generator.
Before heading out, I took the time to modify my Vault Suit for better protection. As I stop in on each settlement, I plan to visit with each settlement’s traders and divest myself of a lot of the weapons and armor that I have confiscated in the last several days. (I was able to sell a fair bit of it here already, and I will make sure to pop into Diamond City before noon, as well as pay a visit to Trudy and other merchants that I know along the way.) Finally, I will leave most of the other junk that I have scavenged for our scrappers to break down for parts and materials.
I have earmarked a number of the items I am carrying for storage in the Minutemen station in Sanctuary. Every time I defeat a noteworthy foe, especially one with that bizarre “legendary” mutation, I set aside a particularly interesting object for my growing collection. I wouldn’t call them trophies, and they aren’t exactly somber reminders, but the reality is somewhere between the two. For example, one of the “legendary” ogres outside of Fort Strong was carrying a particularly impressive missile launcher that is going into that collection.
Most everything else that I am not going to immediately use, scrap or disseminate amongst the Minutemen and our settlers is going to be sold. I do keep a small armory in Sanctuary, but soon my not-a-trophy collection will include enough weapons to suffice. Once Castle is secured, I will probably move the armory there.
On second thought, before I head out, I think I will polish up that missile launcher and maybe do a few upgrades. I’ll never use the thing – I find them to be heavy, loud and difficult to aim. (I don’t like collateral damage and I like giving away my location even less.) But it might make a nice actual trophy of my first mission with the Brotherhood of Steel.
Sturges and his people have built entire buildings in Sanctuary, so surely it won’t be difficult for them to craft a good display case, or maybe an appropriate wall mounting, right?
New Perk: Caps Collector Rank 1
Day 47 – Nightfall
December 9, 2287
It has begun to rain.
I am not making good time. For that, I have no one to blame but myself. I decided to take a “short” detour to Fort Hagen. It has been nearly ten days since my battle with Kellogg. I wanted to see if the Institute has moved back in, or abandoned the place completely. Plus, a proper looting of the facility was long overdue.
The journey over here was not without peril, but it was nothing compared to the Tour of Commonwealth Monsters that I got when following Dogmeat. Plus, the trip has been rewarding. I was able to procure some viable blood samples for Scribe Neriah from a trio of mirelurks who tried to ambush me. (And really, as overly dramatic as that might seem to describe a wildlife attack, that was definitely an ambush.)
More importantly, I discovered another suit of power armor in the ruins of a repair station not far from Fort Hagen. This is a T-51 model, and in fairly good repair. It is only missing the armor for the left arm and leg. That isn’t much of a concern, as it doesn’t look like the synths have any more interest in the fort. This place is as abandoned and dead as when I left it. However, the suit is a Godsend for quite another reason. Even practicing selective scavenging, I am already carrying enough that I would be unable to move without it. And I am leaving behind a small wealth of glass, steel and ceramics.
My collecting has netted me a few new pieces of home-era literature as well as the normal weapons, ammo and scrap-worthy junk. I am now the proud (re)owner of a Guns & Bullets magazine, a Massachusetts Surgical Journal, and another issue of the U.S. Covert Ops Manual series. The latter will be personally useful, as I still employ the “I am a coward who doesn’t want to be shot” method of engagement. The former has a cover that makes me want to frame it. And that probably make me a horrible person.
But that’s okay. As the ruins of the Commonwealth once again felt the need to remind me with the hinky practices at the Greater Massachusetts Blood Clinic, we were pretty much all horrible people.
Day 48 – Morning
December 10, 2287I exited Fort Hagen into the morning sun. Scavenging took far longer than I expected, and even with my power armor, I’ve been reduced to a slow crawl. Fortunately, Oberland Station isn’t too far, and I have the mirelurk cakes to make it across the lake even at this speed.
I passed by Fiddler’s Green Trailer Estates less than an hour ago. It seemed peaceful, so I’m noting it as someplace to scavenge next time I came back this way.
That’s gunfire ahead!
Is it coming from the elevated highway? It’s hard to tell, but those highways usually mean Gunners, and that sounds like energy weapons. Gunners, in my experience, prefer weapons that shoot bullets.
There’s a wreck nearby where I can stash all this crap that I’m carrying. I’m dropping everything but my guns and moving ahead…
Day 48 – Late Morning
December 10, 2287
The battle was virtually over when I arrived. The Brotherhood of Steel were engaging an infestation of ogres down at the water treatment plant. I took out the last ogre and hound.
The Brotherhood was victorious, but they took losses, including their pilot. Their vertibird is crippled and won’t be going anywhere any time soon. There are a lot of bodies of dead gunners here. This had been a three-way fight.
Day 48 – Noon
December 10, 2287I arrived at Oberland Station just in time for lunch. Next, I’ll head north from Oberland to Starlight.
Before lunch, I dumped all the scrap-worthy salvage I was carrying and sent it on to Sanctuary via my supply line, then spent some time helping the farmers harvest the crops. One thing I have to say for the post-apocalyptic Commonwealth, the nonseasonal weather and ashes of a dead civilization seem to make for amazing farming. Or perhaps trace radiation helps more than just bugs grow. I am not a farmer, but it seems to me that we are harvesting more food a week than farms this size should grow in a month.
Between my settlements, we have more than enough to keep everyone fed, supply Teagan with whatever the Brotherhood can afford, and need storage space for the surplus. I fully intend to turn some of that surplus into vegetable starch for adhesives.
Heck, if I can arrange for my settlements to start selling shipments of adhesives and purified water at anything close to the going rate, the Minutemen will be financially set.
Looks like the Brotherhood of Steel got their vertibird working again. As I finish my lunch, I see they’re taking off. My guess is that they are headed back to the Prydwyn for proper repairs and debriefing, followed by funeral services. Although it looks like they’re taking a sweep by the elevated highway.
Day 48 – Afternoon
December 10, 2287I just encountered Graygarden, a large greenhouse and mutfruit farm with an interesting workforce. I’ve heard of this place. The gal up at Tenpines Bluff mentioned it in passing: a place “entirely run by robots.” This is the second such location I have come across, the other being G.A.G., and this one seems to be considerably more friendly and less customer unsafe.
Although considering the first thing that Supervisor Greene – the green-painted Mr. Handy programmed to talk like a game show host – tried to do was award me with a “new car” for “playing”, I’m not entirely convinced this place is glitch-free. This place could probably benefit from human oversight. Although that may just be my experience with G.A.G. talking.
Day 48 – Late Afternoon
December 10, 2287I spent some time talking with Supervisor White, a white-painted Mr. Handy programmed with a femme fatale persona who runs the runs Greygarden along with the two other “supervisors”.
Most of the robots here function at the level of Protectrons, but the “supervisor” models have a level of advanced A.I. that makes me inclined to categorize them as people the same way that I have grown to with Codsworth and Nick. According to Supervisor White, they benefit from the unique genius of a robotics and artificial intelligence virtuoso named Doctor Edward Gray. Doctor Gray made them, in Supervisor White’s words, “capable of complex analysis and decision-making.”
Doctor Gray was also addicted to the boob tube, and programmed the three “supervisors” with personalities based on his favorite television characters.
Also, as fate so often has it, Supervisor White has need of the Minutemen’s help. Graygarden needs the Minutemen to fix whatever is wrong at the Weston Water Treatment Plant… what a coincidence. I think I might know what is wrong. Ogres.
I literally just came from there this morning. Now, I’m on my way back. This job is going to be a lot easier thanks to the Brotherhood clearing all the hostiles from the exterior of the plant this morning. (And yes, I realize now that if I had taken the time to go inside, I might have saved myself a trip. But I had an onerously heavy stash of salvage that I didn’t want to add to at the time.)
What little food is being produced at Graygarden doesn’t seem to be going anywhere useful. Once the water situation is rectified, I hope that I can convince the Supervisors to set up trade with the Minutemen’s settlements. The place is positioned perfectly between several settlements and would make an excellent stop for trade caravans.
Day 48 – Evening
December 10, 2287
I was wrong. The interior of the Weston Water Treatment Plant is distinctly lacking in the stereotypical gore-fest ogre décor. It looks like they never went inside either. Perhaps they couldn’t get the door unlocked?
The water treatment plant is flooded. That should be easy enough to fix. However, I’m going to change my bet from ogres to sewer monsters. Looking into the flooded area, I have a hard time imagining there not being a bunch of mirelurks just beneath that murky water.
So far the only hostility that I have encountered was from crazy turrets. One of them grazed me painfully. I’m taking a moment for the stimpack to do its duty before moving on.
While I wait, I have plenty of reading material. The terminal bore an unpleasant non-surprise. Weston Water wasn’t making the profits they wanted, and had started to look to unsavory methods of reducing costs. The operations manager here had started “experiments” in wastewater recycling that posed risks to the public health… but not enough for the company to take action. No, wait, they did. They commended him. Of course they did. Because we were all horrible people.
Now I’m perusing Issue #5 of Picket Fences. The copy I found was surprisingly well-preserved, and is giving me some interesting ideas that I want to pitch to the craftsmen and women at my settlements. With a little more work, I think we can improve the general quality of life at several of them.
The magazine is another melancholy reminder of my home era. I remember wanting the kind of “new modern” home that one the cover. Ah, and I remember when $32.99 in U.S. currency could get you a magazine, or maybe a couple chocolate bars. Now, you need a wheelbarrow of the stuff to convert to enough caps to buy an opinion. Inflation never changes.
Day 48 – Night
December 10, 2287Mirelurks. Called it.
What the heck is that black stuff? Oil? Filth? Some sort of mutation or secretion? I can’t tell, but I’m not going to get any closer to the ones that are doing that without a hazmat suit. I don’t care if they are somehow hoarding the Ark of the Covenant.
God, I hope the water filters in this place are still in peak performance. If not, this might be the shortest lived crop salvation in history.
Or, knowing my luck, that black stuff will seep into the Graygarden plants and turn them into giant, roving, carnivorous monstrosities. Because my life is a bad horror movie.
Day 48 – Almost Midnight
December 10, 2287Well, that’s done.
It’s nice that there is a convenient elevator at the very end of the facility so I don’t have to trudge back through. I am looking forward to getting someplace where I can get a bath with warm, clean water.
But first I… HOLY SHIT!
They’re shooting at me! The Brotherhood of Steel are trying to kill me!
What the hell?!? What did I do? Have they mistaken me for somebody else? Are they upset that I fixed the water treatment plant?
Maybe Doctor Gray’s work is considered dangerous technology? Are they killing me because I tried to befriend Graygarden? Or just that I know about it? No, that can’t be it. From the way the gal at Tenpines was talking, everybody knows about it.
That vertibird has got me pinned in this elevator. I can barely even see them, much less fight back. I’m going to have to make a break for it. Maybe, if I get in the open where they can see me better and wave a white flag… something to tell them they are shooting at a friendly!
If I don’t make it, and somebody finds this diary, I just want to say: it has been an honor to serve the people of the Commonwealth.
Oh! Oh holy crap. That’s not the Brotherhood of Steel. That’s their… our bird, but those are Gunners inside!
Well, that makes this a lot more simple ethically. Unfortunately, not combatively.
God damn them. It’s the same vertibird from this morning; it’s got to be. My weapons are barely scratching the damn thing. It’s a flying tank!
Wait… I have a missile launcher!
I’ve shot this damn thing with nearly a dozen missiles. What the hell does it take to down one of our vertibirds?!
At least the side gunner is dead. Only having to worry about those forward guns every time she swings around means time spend running or hiding in cover, more time shooting. I hope I don’t run out of missiles. This is the only weapon I have that seems to even hurt that thing.
FINALLY!!
Gunners, burn in hell. Every last one of you fuckers.
I… damn, need to catch my breath. I need a… propeller or something… for a trophy.
…Fuck.
There's a quiet tragedy there, a little sign of how pragmatic Angel has had to become.
And yeah, that Guns & Bullets cover is wonderfully horrible. Or possibly the other way around.
In any case, another wonderfully engaging installment.
Kate, can you please tell me where the issues of picket fences that you found are?
Wait? That's what the Power Armor Hud is supposed to look like?!? *sigh* Excuse me, I need to go yell loudly into a corner about nothing because 1600x1200 wasn't a supported video size, even if it's a totally normal monitor size, so it seems I was missing half my Power Armor Hud.
Luckily, I've found someone who knows what to change to fix it. Yay team.
3894778 I believe that one was in the Weston Water Treatment Plant.
3894828 do you know where? i go crazy looking for them
. i need to make a new main person because i messed up mine, this is not a secret but you can make the 3 main people play nice and not go to war with each other and only kill raiders and mutants, my main guy is going to do anything
will their be any way to make better looking stuff?
See, this is why you don't ally yourself with the BOS. When Vertabirds start shooting at you, you don't have to worry that you're murdering a pal.
I just started a survival mode run. The beta version is spectacular. It really makes the entire game more tactical. Now instead of being a bullet eating badass, u due in three well placed shots. I have to watch for traps, use cover and choke points efficiently, and dodge grenades.
The part about only being able to save in beds means that settlement building is now really important. Cause now they're safe save points. Not to mention I've been making then look cooler. I've started to take perks I never would have thought of if it were no survival like damage resistance. The game is so much harder now and I love it. If I see a super mutant, I have to run
power armor is sooooo necessary.
This mode is rubbing my masochistic steak all the right ways.
I don't know, Elmer Fudd didn't seem so bad when Bugs Bunny made a fool of him under similiar situation.
I'd imagine they already trade with people that manage to pay them a visit. Still it's amazing they've been able to stand this long without being targeted by other factions such as the Gunners or raiders. I imagine the Brotherhood would take interest in them too, eventually.
Well Maxson did believe he was doing good for the Commonwealth from the sound of it. To bad the Gunners are really good with helping themselves.
You know, I never knew if it came up in the game, but whatever happened to their gig in the Capital Wasteland? Did they leave a small detachment to manage the Project purity or did the whole chapter just break it down and leave?
Have weapon/armor display cases been added yet? I haven't been checking the build menu at all recently. (Want to wait until I start my next playthrough so I'm not just building and abandoning, and I still have just a tiny bit more I want to do in my current game.)
And yes that edition of Guns & Bullets is definitely the most popular for the cover alone.
That scene at the end was AWESOME!!
the Castle
the Castle
This threw me off at first, you wish to call the Castle just 'Castle'?
Boxcars! Yes! Now to wait for boxcars to drop on enemies.
As others have previously said this was indeed another engaging diary blog of Angel's. I had a similar experience just being in the area of the Weston Water Treatment Plant. I spotted a Brotherhood of Steel Vertibird shooting at super mutants. I decided to help the BOS ground effort and to my surprise (which I presume was a bug) when the Vertibird blew up and crashed on the ground, BOS ground soldiers were then hostile! Did Dogmeat or I cause accidental friendly fire? I wanted to remain on good terms with the BOS at large so I sneaked past the remaining BOS ground troops. That was definitely a hectic moment and then a weird one, it had to be a bug as I do not recall any stray fire. I only got close to the crashed Vertibird and it seemed the BOS soldiers went hostile for that. I have yet to return there if there is any BOS still around that area.
I'm in a bad mood.
So seeing this helped.
Thank you.
3895416
Last-place said in the linked post:
The terminals in the Prydwen are kind of... thin on detail on what happened back there. What is known: Elder Lyons died some short while after the events of 3, and Sarah took over as the BoS Elder.
And then she died in combat some years later.
And that' s literally all that we have fully confirmed to date on the events of the Capital wasteland over the last few years. Did they turn Purity over to someone else to keep running? I think it likely given how much the Brotherhood has hauled to the Commonwealth that Purity has been turned over to someone else (likely Rivet City, they're right next door and have a fair bit of firepower available) and is still running. Breaking down a guaranteed source of pure water like that doesn't make sense.
3896641 I guess it would really depend on just how old school Maxson is with his Brotherhood policies. He seems to concern himself with the commonwealth's plight with the institute. But if he's more of a traditionalist with the old policies of the Brotherhood when it comes to technology, then Project purity would definitely count under old policies of the brotherhood on dangerous technology.
In that case, he would more then likely have three choices.
1. Keep a small detachment their and protect the plant while having others deal with the distribution of water.
2. Pack it up because he couldn't allow such tech to be used unsupervised by the Brotherhood.
3. Destroy it so no one else could use it.
Of course if he sits between old policies and the newer ones set by Lyons, he might be just a bit more generous with how he handled Project Purity. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if after Maxson become Elder, they all got kicked out of Purity by the other settlements. In fact... I wonder if Maxson has a Wander sized boot mark on somewhere on his backside.
Anyway, thanks. We may not really know what Maxson did with Purity. But there might be a chance he left it in good hands. Maybe simply water purifiers designs from the Commonwealth made it over to the Capital wastelands and phased out Purity. Then again, notes on the death of Lyons and his daughter didn't make it sound like the wasteland was coming down much with more water. Though I suppose that's only natural, everything probably needs water, including many of the dangerous things in the wasteland.
Well, that fix I thought I had, it didn't fix my Power Armor Hud. So I'm going to have to do something totally reasonable instead; time to get a brand new monitor that can do 16:9 or 16:10 because 4:3 is too OG for Bethesda games I guess.
In the meantime, I suppose I can adventure sans power armor, like I've done for most of the game. Except the Glowing Sea and attacking the Institute.
I'm eagerly awaiting the Far Harbor DLC.
I always keep a Fat Man on hand for the bigger enemies. There was a time where I encountered a group of Ogres, didn't have the health or the bullets to take them on, so I just unloaded a mini nuke at them and slid the door in front of me shut. Best way to clear out a group of enemies in one clean shot.
What perks have you given Angel? I don't recall you ever mentioning them throughout these diaries or if you did I just missed it.
If you haven't already, I would suggest getting the "Mysterious Stranger" perk, it's my favorite.
3898270 Every time she levels up and gets a new perk, it gets listed in the APBD, slipped between entries. For example, between the first and second entry in this one (APBD #27), you can see that she picked up Caps Collector, rank #1.