Can I complete Home Sweet Home without enraging the Minute Men?

Question

TL;DR I want to get the perks for completing Nuka World but don't want Preston to shoot me in the face. Is this possible?

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I'm playing the sort of character who wouldn't side with the Raiders but would play along with them long enough to get everything I could before murdering them all. I'd like to get the perks from completing Power Play but as soon as I set a raider flag in the Commonwealth, I'm informed that "Preston hated that" (understandably so, even if he has no way of knowing because this settlement is miles away). The settlement I picked doesn't involve forcing any settlers off their land; I'm literally just creating one settlement that I plan to completely neglect until I can get the power on at Nuka World and slaughter everyone (including the settlement in the Commonwealth).

Preston and Ronnie however immediately go hostile without giving me a chance to explain myself. Preston is currently my lover so it's not a question of getting his affinity higher. I planted the flag and went directly to The Castle only to get a laser in my face for my troubles. I also tried having Preston as my companion during this mission, hoping that I could maybe convince him to trust me even if he hated me and eventually rebuild our relationship, and still got a laser in my face for my troubles.

Here is what I've tried so far to try and keep Preston from getting mad:

• Planting the flag and waiting for a week or so to see if he calms down
• Sending him to Far Harbor before planting the flag.

Can I complete this objective (Home Sweet Home, Power Play, kill all raiders, bring in settlers) without the whole laser-in-my-face thing? I'm playing on Survival mode so the console is out.

Answer 1

No it is not. This is one reason why some people disliked this DLC (A lot of people complained on the Steam reviews about having to to make the choice of being "Completely Evil" by siding with the Raiders or "Finish the DLC very fast" through the Open Season quest).

From the Fallout Wiki for Home Sweet Home:

Preston Garvey will instantly hate the player after establishing the first raider outpost, even if his affinity has already been maxed and the United We Stand perk unlocked. This is understandable given that the goals of the Nuka-World gangs are directly opposed to the Minutemen's settlement-related activities. Even if Garvey is not the active companion at the time, he will find out about it and become hostile the next time he sees you. He can still be ordered to move to other Minutemen-allied settlements from the workshop menu.

As you can read, the Wiki states that for establishing the first Raider Outpost, Preston will immediately hate you. I think the reason why Preston will get angry is because he can also assign the Open Season quest in addition to Mackenzie. This thus makes him aware of the Raider presence at Nuka-World.

I'm sure you have looked up the perks you receive from doing Home Sweet Home, but to reiterate:

The Wasteland Warlord Perk which has 3 stages that are unlocked as you build more Raider camps. These are:

• 1 Raider camp gets you new structures and building items and Raider outposts.

• 3 Raider camps gets you new structures and building items and Raider outposts as well as Raider-themed stores.

• 8 Raider camps gets you an achievement and unlocks the Tribute Chest that you can build (not really a perk, but its the reward you receive).

For completing Power Play, you receive 2 perks, depending on which gang didn't betray you. The gang that will betray you is whatever gang you gave the least amount of territories (including the ones in Nuka World) The perks you get are:

If the Operators betray you:

• Chosen Disciple

• Pack Alpha

If the Pack betrays you:

• Ace Operator

• Chosen Disciple

If the Disciples betray you:

• Ace Operator

• Pack Alpha

You also earn an achievement for completing Power Play. It should be noted that after completing Power Play, you may speak to the remaining two gang leaders for an additional weapon (the third gang at this point has been killed off should you go through with Power Play). These are:

• Nisha provides a Disciple cutlass with the Instigating legendary effect, which deals double damage to enemies with full health (I personally love this weapon).

• Mags provides an Operators sniper rifle with the Relentless legendary effect, which refills Action Points on a critical hit.

• Mason provides a puncturing rocket bat with the Furious legendary effect, which deals increasing damage for each consecutive hit on the same target

If you decide not to go through with helping the Raiders, and begin the Open Season quest, you can still restore power to Nuka-World. Once you finish Open Season, the doors to the Nuka-World power plant will open, allowing you to restore power (according to the Wiki).

Answer 2

THERE IS A WAY! If you do all the raider stuff that you need to do before preston ever even names you general, then there is a dialogue option with him when you finally talk to him in which he orders you to wipe out the raiders.

Answer 3

Accepting the mission Home Sweet Home affects nothing. Planting the first Raider flag in that mission, however, will immediately make the Minuteman faction (and hence anyone belonging to it) hostile to the player. This includes Preston, Ronnie, and any and all Minutemen that spawn in the world.

Thus, the simplest way to prevent Preston from becoming hostile to you is to complete Home Sweet Home before you encounter him for the first time in Concord (since he does not exist in the game world until that point, the Minuteman hostility trigger has no effect).

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If the above route is unavailable to you because you have already met Preston, there is a mod called Faction Maintenance* that will allow you to modify the affinity of any of the Commonwealth's factions to the player. Using this mod, you can "correct" the Minuteman faction's (and hence Preston's) affinity to you after completing Home Sweet Home. After doing so, you can uninstall the mod.

_{* Disclaimer: I am not the author of this mod, nor am I affiliated with it in any way.}

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Alternatively, if you have the debug console available and don't want to (or cannot) install a mod just to "fix" Preston, the following console commands will work as of Fallout 4 version 1.10.26:

• Run the following before you plant the first Home Sweet Home Raider flag:
  <refid>.removefromallfactions
  where <refid> is the reference ID of the character to be removed. Preston Garvey's is 1a4d7 so you would run:
  1a4d7.removefromallfactions
• After completing Home Sweet Home, add whoever you removed back into the Minuteman faction with the command:
  <refid>.addtofaction <factionid> 1
  The Minuteman faction ID is a1b85, so to restore Preston to the Minutemen you would run:
  1a4d7.addtofaction a1b85 1

This can be repeated for all NPCs in the Minuteman faction (e.g. Ronnie's ref ID is 55ec9).

Using either the mod or console commands will allow you to complete all Nuka-World quests - netting you two Raider perks and weapons - while preventing Preston from becoming hostile to you.

Answer 4

Yes you can. First you have to avoid meeting Preston in Concord. You can actually loot the Museum of Freedom and walk right past him. Just don't initiate dialogue with Preston yet. Head to Nuka World and compete the DLC in favor of the Raiders netting you two unique weapons and two unique perks (depending on which factions are left alive). Next step is to talk with Mackenzie (the doctor) at the Nuka World Trading Store and start the quest Open Season. Kill every Raider in Nuka World and kill all Raiders at the settlements you took over for them. This will free up the conquered settlements allowing you to invite settlers back. (I don't know how this effects vassal settlements unfortunately so you might have to test that yourself). Now that all settlements you raided have become neutral go talk with Preston and continue the game as normal. (Note that I haven't actually done this myself and I can't find a straight answer on this. This is my assumption from what I've gathered on how to maximize your rewards from Nuka World while still getting the good ending) Hope this helps.