Home Sweet Home

1. Talk to Shank
2. Claim an Outpost for your gang
3. Check in with your crew
4. Talk to Shank
5. Force a Settlement to supply your gang
6. Discuss problems at [your settlement] with Shank
7. Check in with your gang at [your settlement]
8. Defend [your settlement]
9. (Optional) Speak to Shank to Run New Jobs
10. Make your Raider Outpost happy
11. Establish Raider Outposts

Sharing the Commonwealth

With the fifth and final flag raised over a zone within the Nuka-World Theme Park (Main Quest: The Grand Tour), you return to Porter Gage, who strikes up a conversation, and recommends you speak to an informant-type named Shank in order to expand this Raider empire out into the Commonwealth. This shady character resides in Nuka-Town USA, and has a plan for a Raider stranglehold across the Commonwealth. This is a two-fold set of tasks:

• Taking over Settlements.
• Then forcing other Settlements to gather a “tribute” and feed the Raider settlements through force, rather than diplomacy or a quid pro quo.
• Shank explains you must first gain three “outside” settlements for the Raiders, and there are two ways you can go about taking over each one. You can:
• Go into the settlement, speak to the leader, and “convince” them to leave. This option is available if you’ve already granted a settlement to a previous faction, or you have an “untouched” settlement with humans residing in it.
• Ask Shank to gather a crew together, before heading into the settlement, and massacring everyone. This is your only option if you’re tackling a settlement filled with animals or monsters rather than humans.

Now you’ve got your main plans formulated, Shank recommends you visit each of the three gangs to secure a unique item to help you in these tasks (which are mostly available once your first settlement is conquered, but before Main Quest: Power Play begins):

Dixie (The Disciples) offers up Fury grenades, which turn settlers on each other when lobbed into a crowd of them. As long as you use them in more crowded areas (at least two settlers should be near each other) this is an excellent way to turn previously-peaceful folk against each other without you lifting a (trigger) finger.

Lizzie Wyath (The Operators) gives you Persuasion grenades; toss one at the foot of your target, and they are much more receptive to your convincing conversations. This is a great way to remove settlers without bloodshed, though Sole Survivors with low Charisma may need additional enhancements (Grape Mentats for example) to convince settlers, as these grenades only improve your chances of persuasion[em]they don’t guarantee them. If you need a further boost to your convincing powers, Lizzie has a chem (and recipe) named Smooth Operator that acts in much the same way as Grape Mentats, but isn’t as potent (or addictive).

Mason (The Pack) offers you Predator grenades, which summon animals when thrown, whether you’re attacking a settlement or not. This is supposed to enable you to attack the settlers while they’re engaged in combat with these animals, and this can work. Just be sure you realize that the animals are hostile to you as well, so stay away from them during the attack, and be prepared to kill them afterward. Don’t expect to just lob in grenades and watch your summoned animals maul their way through the settlement; use this as a flanking or distraction attack.

Turning Settlements into Outposts

You are now ready to try convincing (or killing) settlement residents so the Raider gang of your choice can claim the territory in question. This works in much the same way as your previous settlement conquering, so refer to that section of this guide for a more thorough explanation. Because you may have no previous settlements assigned to a faction, a few, or every settlement, you may (or may not) incur the wrath of a previously-friendly faction if you move them out of a settlement you previously assigned to them. So be aware of who is living in which settlements you own, before they become Raider Outposts! Here are some points to remember:

• If you don’t want to inflict hardship on your previous chums, but you’re content to pal around with Raiders, you may wish to target settlements you haven’t discovered yet, with neutral humans or monsters residing in them. This way, you don’t need to disrupt your previous faction friends.
• If you pick a settlement with a previously-friendly faction in it, they won’t be friendly any more once you force them to leave or massacre them! There are no half-measures here; are you a Raider Overboss, or not?
• Preston Garvey, and a few other settlement dwellers, are “essential” (like June Warwick in the homestead bearing her family’s name), and can’t be killed. Choosing violence against them is impractical. Either instruct these individuals to leave the settlement before you conquer it, or avoid the settlement altogether.
• Preston Garvey is particularly unhappy with your Raider activities and has a seething hatred for you that cannot be repaired. It’s worth completing his quests first if you want to see this content.
• If you have a change of heart after establishing one or more Raider settlements, and then go back and slay the raiders as part of Main Quest: Open Season, all Nuka-World Raiders become hostile towards you. Don’t be wishy-washy with your convictions: Choose a side!

Once you visit a Raider settlement, you have the following choices when overthrowing the settlers there:

• You can force the inhabitants to leave using persuasive coercion.
• You can attack using violent combat, with you fighting a one-person attack against the inhabitants, or with your companion.
• You can attack using violent combat, with you fighting alongside a chosen Raider faction from the Disciples, Operators, or Pack, that came with you.

When the settlement is overrun, it’s time to claim it. This is achieved by hoisting a flag that you built at a Workshop. If a gang aided you in this assault, it is claimed for them. If you used persuasion, you can choose which of the three factions control the settlement, now known as a Raider Outpost.

Vassal Outposts: The Strong-Arming of Settlements

Raiders don’t believe much in alliances, but they do believe in strong Outposts kept healthy and wealthy through intimidation. This is where you come in: Once a settlement has been claimed for a Raider faction, speak with Shank to receive instructions regarding the “appropriation” of a secondary settlement, close to the one you just took over. Any nearby settlement will do; you must now visit it and force it to become a “feeder” or “vassal” to the Raider Outpost. This doesn’t mean taking it over; this just means forcing the inhabitants into a life of servitude and bringing “tributes” to the Raider Outpost.

This requires strong-arm tactics and a settlement that is already active (not one with monsters you cannot convince or land that isn’t being farmed). You have two choices when convincing a nearby settlement to act as a feeder location to an Outpost. You can:

• Use a payment of caps to win their services.
• Use intimidation, in the form of crippling (not killing) the settlement’s inhabitants.

The number of nearby Raider Outposts, the constructing of a Nuka-World radio transmitter at the Outpost in question, and the use of your Raider gang’s particular “grenade” can all influence the vassal settlement leader in your favor. Expect caps and items to arrive from this settlement on a daily basis.

After this, you must start to increase the happiness of your Raider Outpost, using the same general principles as you did before, but focusing on defense, food, water, and building new items chem dispensers to improve the happiness of the Raider Outpost. After another return to Shank for a chat, the Outpost becomes part of the Raider empire, Shank can be sent there, and the process then begins two more times, in order to complete this quest. The start of Main Quest: Power Play commences once one of the three main Nuka-World gangs turns on you.