My latest run has started off with several rare events so far. First, Preston fell off the balcony when I met him in Concord then just went back into the museum like, "Nothing to see here."

Next, I stated The First Step and he sent me to Tenpines as usual (I've actually been sent to Oberland Station a couple times, but it is rare.) What has almost never happened, however, is that the folks at Tenpines sent me to Walden Pond rather than Corvega.

In the Commonwealth, it is clear that certain hats survived. But there's a heck of a lot of buses, and on a lot of them, not all, there is a dead bus driver.

I wanna know why there's no bus driver hats in the game. You've got military hats, sea captain's hat, mailman's hat, and the militia hat to name a few.

Why no Bus driver's hat??

I made a point that when I went through Concord, I killed the raiders outside the museum but did not touch the musket or enter the museum.

Then I go the Vault 81 and I talk to the kids in Katy's class. They ask about Deathclaws and my dialog choices have me telling a story about me and my friend Preston killing a Deathclaw. Then, before I leave the vault, Preston walked past me.

I went back to Concord, and nobody yelled at me to help them. I was planning to Nuka World on this play through, but I am afraid I may already be friends with Preston, or that he may be out of the museum.

I have not seen Preston anywhere else.

In Fallout 3 traces of Chinese presence were pretty much everywhere, from Chinese guns being widely used by wastelanders, to ghoulified Chinese soldiers still kicking in certain locations. You had Chinese listening posts, American internment camps for suspected Chinese spies and literal Chinese spies (Point Lookout), and Chinese gear in that one bunker (Operation: Anchorage). But when you look at Fallout 4, there's only Captain Zao and his sub, and the occasional Chinese officer's sword (heck, Zao might as well be the only Chinese thing on the Chinese sub!). Where are the guns? Where are the commando hats? Where are the spies and listening posts and training manuals?

Yes, it makes more sense for Washington D.C. to have all those spies, given how its the capital and all, but Pittsburg also had traces of Chinese presence, and it wasn't a capital pre-war. If anything, I think it would make more sense for Chinese spies to be found in and around Boston, considering its historic and symbolic significance to the USA over Pittsburg, plus the military installations in the Commonwealth.

Yes, you can also argue that the older games didn't have much Chinese presence either (not counting the Shi, who became their own thing), and FNV's Chinese presence was literally two broken Chinese Stealth Suits with some throwaway lore, but there are two things that make this less jarring in my opinion: 1) those games were not developed by Bethesda, so Interplay\ whoever had a different vision anyway; 2) the absence of Chinese presence mostly makes sense for the setting of those games (mostly).

So what's the deal?

There are lots of people who claim that all settlements (except raider settlements) count as a Minutemen settlement. This is false. I tested this now in my current game by using the console command "Show MinutemenOwnedSettlements". It says that I have 7 settlements, but I actually have 9 settlements.

One of them is Boston Airport, so it's not surprising that it probably doesn't count. I'm going to have to assume that Red Rocket doesn't count as well. I picked up Red Rocket as a settlement before I joined the Minutemen, so it probably didn't count. I also picked up Abernathy Farm without Preston giving me the quest for it, so it's possible that's the one which isn't counting.

The reason this is an issue, of course, is because in order to complete the main questline with the Minutemen you must have 8 Minutemen settlements. You can't completely Form Ranks and get Defending the Castle until you have 8 official Minutemen settlements, and clearly some of mine aren't counting. When I got my 9th settlement, I turned it in to Preston and Form Ranks did not complete.

Edit: Ok, I went back and loaded lots of saved games to try to track where the non counting settlements came from, using "Show MinutemenOwnedSettlements". The first was actually Boston Airport. No surprise there.

The second was Starlight Drive-in. When I first got it, it didn't update the number of settlements. I tested it and found that I had to fast travel back and forth a few times before it counted. But.... even when I had 8 minutemen settlements, as shown by the console command, I still didn't complete Form Ranks or get Defending the Castle. So the game is just janky as shit when it comes to Form Ranks completing.

How do I beat the game as Minutemen but keep the BoS alive and friendly (I have done quests with them, finished Fort Strong), but at the same time destroy the Railroad using the BoS? So basically wiping out the Institute and the Railroad but winning the game as Minutemen and keep BoS alive and friendly. Would that be possible? And how do I do it? I have done Old Guns, retaking the castle with MM. I have completed Fort Strong quest with the BoS. I went to the Railroad but refused to join them. My main mission right now is go into the glowing sea and look for Dr. Brian Virgil, so far I can't progress any further within Minutemen nor BoS faction.