Defend (displayed as Defend (Location Name)) is a Minutemen radiant quest in Fallout 4. There are four variations of the quest using the same script, with the only difference being the attacking party (raiders, super mutants, Gunners, or Institute synths).
Quick walkthrough[]
| Minutemen radiant quest: Defend | |||||||||||||
| Speak to the leader of the settlement. | |||||||||||||
| Build defenses to a rating of at least 10. | |||||||||||||
| Repel the raider/super mutant/Gunners/Synth attack. | |||||||||||||
| Report back to the leader of the settlement. | |||||||||||||
| Reward: ~100 caps | |||||||||||||
| Report your success to Preston Garvey. | |||||||||||||
| Reward: 75+ XP | |||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
After joining the Minutemen, this quest can be periodically obtained when talking to Preston Garvey or listening to Radio Freedom. The Sole Survivor is informed that an allied settlement is in danger of a raider, super mutant, Gunners, or synth attack, and is asked to help the settlement with their defenses. Alternatively, the quest may be obtained directly from a settler at an owned settlement even if the Sole Survivor has not joined the Minutemen (though this occurs very infrequently). The quest has an (undisclosed) 14 day time limit, so the Sole Survivor must act quickly.
To proceed with the quest the Sole Survivor must travel to the settlement and talk to their leader, who will give the details: a group of enemies came through earlier and caused a lot of damage, and they're afraid a bigger group is on its way. Alternatively, if the Sole Survivor has been Banished from the Institute the settler may report sightings of Institute crows, indicating an impending synth attack. Either way, they will ask the Sole Survivor to help build up the settlement's defenses to protect against the coming attack.
To complete the objective, the Sole Survivor must use the settlement workshop to build defensive buildings until the settlement has a defense rating of at least 10 (the Pip-Boy will indicate the percentage toward this goal as they build). After reaching the required rating a group of attackers will spawn and begin attacking the settlement. The Sole Survivor can help eliminate the attackers or let the settlement's defenses handle it. Either way, if the settlement takes too much damage or the leader of the settlement is killed, the quest will fail.
With the threat neutralized, the Sole Survivor can talk to the settler from before to receive thanks and a reward of ~100 caps. If the quest was given by Preston Garvey, the Sole Survivor must report back to him to turn in the quest; it will be completed immediately upon receiving the reward otherwise.
Settlements asking for help[]
Quest stages[]
Companion reactions[]
Notes[]
- This quest will not be given if the Sole Survivor does not control any settlements.
- This quest will only be given for settlements with a defense rating of less than 15 and a population of at least 1.
- With the Nuka-World add-on installed, this quest will not be given for settlements that have been captured or subdued by the Nuka-World raiders.
- The synth variant of the quest is only given after the Sole Survivor becomes hostile to the Institute.
- The raider, super mutant, and synth variations of this quest have a unique log entry for each objective; the Gunners variation only has a single log entry for the entire quest.
- The death of the settlement leader will result in the quest failing. If Preston gave the quest, the Sole Survivor must report their failure to him before the quest is removed from the quest log.
- Although this is technically a Minutemen quest, it can be obtained before joining the Minutemen. If the Sole Survivor has joined the Minutemen, the quest dialogue will include mentions of the Minutemen; this dialogue is omitted otherwise. This trait is shared with the other settlement-related quests.
- Some settlements (such as Warwick homestead) have leaders that are marked as protected or essential, preventing the attackers from killing them and thus preventing the quest from being failed in that fashion.
- This quest has several complex interactions related to hidden timers (all times are in-game):
- If the Sole Survivor does not talk to the leader of the settlement within 14 days, the enemy attack will trigger.
- If the Sole Survivor does not build up the settlement's defenses within one hour of talking to the settler, the enemy attack will trigger.
- If the attack occurs while the Sole Survivor is near the settlement but before the defenses are built up, the quest will proceed directly to the "Help defend (location)" objective. From here the quest plays out as normal, with the death of the attackers resulting in success and the death of the settler or excessive damage to the settlement resulting in failure.
- If the attack occurs while the Sole Survivor is NOT near the settlement, the attack plays out in the same fashion as a normal off-screen settlement attack. If the settlers win, the quest succeeds instantly and the Sole Survivor receives the caps and either the completion of the quest or the "Talk to Preston Garvey" objective. If the attackers win, the quest fails in the same fashion.
- If the Sole Survivor was near the settlement during a successful defense (and thus received the "Talk to people of (location)" objective), they must talk to the settler and retrieve their reward within 14 days of when they originally received the quest or it fails immediately.
- If the Sole Survivor does not turn the quest in to Preston within 14 days of when they originally received the quest, the quest will turn itself in, completing or failing as normal.
Bugs[]
In certain locations, NPCs might spawn in inaccessible locations (for instance, Roger Warwick at Warwick homestead might spawn inside the water cistern). This bug is shared with the other settlement quests.[verified]
This can be resolved by using the console command targetID.moveto player to teleport the NPC in question.- The Warwick homestead example can be resolved by building stairs into the cistern and a bell outside of it. Using the bell and waiting for an in-game hour (using the Wait option) will cause the NPCs to spawn near the bell.
See also[]
- MinRadiantOwned01.txt (dialogue settlement spokesman)
