2 things that I really appreciate about Automatron: integration of the Silver Shroud into the quest, especially the final boss encounter, and the ability to shift your entire settlement logistics network to heavily armed robot caravaneers.
Pacify provisioners (away from settlements) to order them into power armor. Equip with some legendary effect gatler and nuka grenades. A veritable army of one. Even more awesome when you combine multiple of them and they all start opening up together on some poor warlord. Remember that the provisioners will start talking to you normally again after a couple of in-game days.
Synth Curie is cuddly, but dual minigun Curie is peak performance. Synths can only carry one minigun, handy jet can carry two over any terrain even water, and 50 extra pounds of my stuff.
I really like the Rust Devils as a faction. Fallout 4 really needed more unique raider factions. Although I do think it would’ve been cool to have a terminal or holotape somewhere explaining that they were forced out of Nuka World by the arrival of Colter’s gang as kind of a way to foreshadow the future DLCs.
Rust devils and rogue bot swarms totally dunk on base game world encounters though, minuteman, BoS, raiders, mutants, bugs, everything gets smashed by crazy tanky exploding robots.
If there's one thing I have to lever some criticism about in terms of the story, is that why isn't The Brotherhood notified about the mysterious appearance of robots in the Commonwealth. Their whole thing is the preservation of technology, yet none of them are notified about it.
The DLC definitely could have been integrated into the four main factions to make it better, perhaps with a different first quest for each with Ada being at a different location depending on the faction the player is dealing with. The biggest problem is that because of Fallout 4's main story it would make the DLC unable to be accessed for those players that prefer not engaging with the factions in Act 1 and severely limit how the DLC could be accessed for those players in Act 3 or having finished the main quest with 1 to 3 of the main factions destroyed.
>Ada's legs I propose the theory that Ada's owner worked with what they had on hand that was functional. Protectron parts are probably more common considering how many we see around the wastes as opposed to Assaultrons. >is it good? Automatron is worth a run through, and the bot bench is great.
Considering what can become of an Assaultron if you have to fight one, there’s a good chance there won’t be many usable parts. And Protectrons were/are everywhere in daily life, while the Assaultrons were only military robots.
I always knew Automatron was a weak DLC, but I can't help but like it because I loved building robots so much. I have fond memories buiding a kind of weak robot but eventually turning him into a Sentry bot with a gatling laser and mini nuke launcher. He was jet black and had a skull face with red light shining through. My friend thought he was terrifying. Loved traveling with him and building all sorts of robots to patrol.
Yeah, the story for dlc is laughably pitiful, especially since half the steps end up as basically radiants, but the goods you get from it help me enjoy it, from the tesla armor to to sone of the weapons, and especially the robots bring major draw, with making Codsworth into a total death machine throughout the game (regardless of losing hat ability (which mod fixed regardless)
I always break out The Silver Shroud outfit for the final fight for some unique dialog with The Mechanist. We needed more Silver Shroud lines after resolving things with Kent/Sinjin. I do wish that we had some costumed justice dialog options when interacting with Eddie Winter or even with the Raiders of Nukaworld. (Unless I missed something cool :) I just read on reddit that if you take the SS outfit to Dry Rock Gulch, the protectrons there have SS unique conversation options. It would be cool if when out in the wastes while wearing the Mechanist outfit, that you could have unique encounters. Perhaps even making some NPC's hostile, because they were victims of a robot attack, like Ada. Or have a kid ask for your autograph, as could happen in Fallout 3, where you could also give the suit to the kid.
The turretbot in the final fight is the most dangerous enemy in the entire game. One thing I like is the extra robot mods available through Nuka-World, especially the nuka-launcher and the blue automatic space laser, which makes for fantastic settlement defense assaultrons. (edit) There is one more little known mechanic. The radiant quest given by Izabelle can result in finding npc's you can send to your settlements, and apparently bypasses the settler limit, giving low charisma characters an option for more settlers.
One thing that I really like about this DLC: making sentry bots for supply lines. Coupled with a mod that turns the supply-line brahmin into Mr Handy’s (Yagisan’s mod), it’s as if the Commonwealth were being patrolled properly - much better than settler’s and Minutemen roaming the wastelands. Assigning Jezebel to the supply lines is worthwhile also, then she’s not underfoot and is actually being useful.
Re; the cryptography fetch quest and multiple antennas: there is one way it could work that would make sense in terms of cryptography and signal security: frequency hopping. First, we assume that there is one channel that sends out a lightly encoded signal that simply tells the robots what frequency to jump to next, with one antenna always tuned to that one frequency. Second, the other antenna is tuned to the requested new frequency each time it changes, and that frequency contains the actual communications with heavier encryption and more bandwidth utilized. That way, no one can just casually sit on whatever frequency they happen to use and record/listen/analyze until they finally crack the encryption. If they don't know what frequency to hop to next and when, all they get is a little bit of code here or there they might happen across as they scan up and down the dial (as it were). That's basically obscurity by mobility. My father used to tell me about working in signal intelligence in the Army in the Vietnam era, and they would find signals from North Vietnamese and Viet Cong units, but they would usually send a brief code block, then move to another location, and send another block, often on another frequency, to frustrate triangulation. He didn't work in decoding, but the assumption was that the last bit of the code block was telling the receiver what frequency the next code block would be sent on. So Ada might need one antenna to track the frequency hops, and a second antenna to actually hop along and accumulate enough of a data set to decrypt. The other option is what the Institute uses: obscurity by ubiquity (specifically, they're using a kind of steganography, hiding code in something that appears to be clear signal). 24/7/365 classical music. Just seems like someone with a radio transmitter and a penchant for music from way back when, or an old robot or computer that never got told to change up the broadcast or shut down when the bombs fell. No one bothers looking for it or hunting through the signal to see if there's a carrier wave hidden in it -- until they do, and that exposes a potential security hole you could literally fit an invasion force through (though admittedly it takes help from an exile, so there's a problem in personnel information security there, too).
Assaultrons legs can be shot and blown off with mines, I would imagine Ada being a modified assaultron, had her original body intact but the years of fighting has led to her needing “optimization”
I can definitely recommend this dlc to Fallout 4 players. Despite it's short story you will get really good items like Tesla T-60 armor, Mechanist's armor (you can upgrade it with Ballistic weave), and on to of that you will get the possibility to build the best companion robot in this game. Ps. The Mechanist's lair gets few points for not getting raided at all despite its lacking few key elements like water, or farming crops.
I give Jezebel an upgraded body designed for mobile combat, with Robobrain body and treads, Sentry arms, and heavy weapons. I then use her as the Provisioner connecting Sunshine Tidings Co-op and the Nuka-World Red Rocket. Keeps her out of the way, and she frequently is around to help out when I'm farming legendaries in the Nuka-World desert.
The doors in the Mechanist's lair was an homage to Mystery Science Theater 3000... a show about a man on a space station with four robots that he made himself from parts found on the satellite.
My personal theory for Ada's downgraded legs are that her upgraded arm draws more power and her systems couldn't support both her regular legs and the sentry arm. So the legs were decided to be less important as the caravan often doesn't move very quickly. Also she was the first companion i wanted to romance but you can't romance her.
Bro really wanted that robussy💀 I am terribly sorry for the cringe you may have endured reading that, but I found it so funny I had to write it (I have the humor of a 14-year old)
I find the story line OK, but love making assaultrons and assigning them to be supply line provisioners. Many times when I am in a fight out in the commonwealth they come to my aid, and I don't lose settlers to the supply line. Though I really dislike when they revert back to bare-bones protectrons and I have to retool them.
Atron provisioners are a fucking meme. I've lost count how many times I've been neck deep in the ruins, only to hear in the distance the unmistakable sound of an Assaultron's death stare..only to come upon the scene of tremendous violence, to bear witness to the droid and brahmin resuming their deliveries to my various slums across Boston. Never stops being funny.
i found that if you don't fast travel to the connected settlement the reset bug doesn't happen. example - Greygarden to Red Rocket, fast travel from outside the GG cell to Concorde. i started doing that years back and have never had a problem since.
The thing that would have made this DLC worth it, for me, is if quest progression gave you the Robotics Expert perks for free. They're not particularly useful in the main game, so I'd love for there to have been a different perk in that spot on the Science skill tree. Also would have liked Isabel as a proper follower or NPC. The Minutemen can always use another engineer...
Yeah the amount of Rust Devil and Mechanist robot encounters the player starts dealing with once they encounter ADA is why I often put off starting Automatron until late in my playthrough, if not skip it completely. They overwrite so many regular encounters that it's tended to be only when I put off doing the DLC that I get many of the more unique encounters. The random encounters also can be quite difficult if you start doing the DLC around when it becomes available at lvl 15- many will spawn in the 20's and even the low 30's and can quickly down the player if not careful.
@@carloscrispens4816while true, if you also want all special tier 4 shop settlers, it makes it a nightmare, because so many get overwritten by murderous robots that you need to rely on the coin flip that encounter ISNT automatron, since it gets a whopping 50% chance to be, mod game to have chances lowered, which might not be option for console, or use commands to warp npcs to you to then invite, which absolutely isn’t option for console
Actually this DLC pairs well with the Next Gen upgrade that came out as if you wanted to make short work of the Bots do the Enclave quest line and you can score Tesla cannons which make short work of the Bots.
I think it's good. The quest might be just OK, but the robot building opens up a whole new dimension of play. My favorite bot is a loot hauling bot built on a sentry bot chasis with something like a gantling laser. I call him HANK and I loves him.
It’s a good DLC, yes it’s very short but I like the weapons they add. Really unique and fun to use, you also for got to mention the protections gaze laser rifle, which is a good addition in my opinion.
That short cut is a pretty nice feature when playing on survival lol. That final boss fight is tough on survival if you don't cheese it or take it on at a higher level.
Omg i love those videos, i can just let them run in the background while woodworking. Amazing content! Tbh i would watch your vids without footage and sound only
The good news is, destroying robots grants parts, making it a little less resource intensive. Automatron also pairs with Nuka World, allowing you to build robots from that DLC as well.
Having just played through the entire Automatron story for the first time, I can say I enjoyed it much more than you would expect from Grey's review, but I agree it definitely feels rushed. In addition to Grey's criticisms, I'd mention that Ada's dialog does not update, after the completion of the quest, she still talks as if the Mechanist has yet to be defeated. It's fun, it's got some decent rewards, but in typical Besthesda fashion, it could've been so much more. But I still give it a better score than Grey- 12 out of 20. 3 Storyline, 2 Explorable, 2 Usefulness, 5 Expansion. I didn't run the Rust Devil dungeon backwards, but post quest, I could definitely see how you could. To me, that was a nicely confusing layout that only made sense after the end. I did go back through it multiple times scrapping, it definitely has a lot. As a vanilla player, doing a low tech build (no Science!), I guess I appreciated that Tesla armor a lot more than the usual gamer!
When I first played Automatron, I came up with this plan of building a bunch of ProvisionBots to a standardised design - Assaultron laser head, Protectron torso, Robobrain treads, storage armour, lasers - and using them as my provisioners on every route. Gave them names describing their routes, like ProvisionBot Sh-Rr running between Sanctuary Hills and Red Rocket, and set them loose. Unfortunately, it turns out there's a bug where your custom-built bots will revert to base Protectron parts, making the whole thing entirely pointless.
I first played fallout four about four years ago. I bought all the dlc with it and didn't pay much attention to what the dlc was. (I think the logic behind that decision was fallout new vegas dlc was so good, four's should be too). I didn't realize automation was dlc until well after completing it. With that in mind I thought it was pretty cool because I wasn't looking at it as dlc but rather as just part of the base game.
- Ngl I prefer Automatron to Nuka World, it adds a new non-intrusive mechanic (build robots) compared to the raider outposts that can bug out Preston. - It gives the possibility to build a companion with 400+ carry capacity, I don't care about your prefered playstyle, having more carry weight is ALMOST universally good. - I disagree about the Mechanist Lair, we have already a bunch of settlements good for crops and having people. Flavor wise, an underground bunker to build a storage facility, or factory using the contraptions dlc is awesome, it even has a huge industrial lift to nail the aesthetics. - With the right set of perks selection playing solo is better - I prefer to use NPC/Minions to do my work. A small point but I hate when people tell me (indirectly or not) how to play the game.
The Mechanist's Lair works well as a pure robot caravan dispatch/crafting hub, and you don't need food there if that's all you're using it for. All you need to do is build robots and assign them to a caravan to another settlement. Robots don't need food, water, or beds, and as long as you never make the mistake of building a Recruitment Beacon, you'll never get human or Ghoul settlers. It makes sense to use it that way, too, because it's explicitly a "superhero" lair (meaning you logically shouldn't broadcast the location to the entire Commonwealth) for a "superhero" who wanted to use robots to patrol and help the Commonwealth (which you can achieve by sending robots out to defend trade routes).
Best part is that you can harvest Jezabels head back off a robot chassi through a bug so that you can get rid of her forever if you dislike her enough.
I think Ada is probably the best companion: 1 she give 0 F***s what you do (like Dogmeat) 2 you can mod her however you want (plus sometimes for free depending on what mods you find on random robots) 3 she can be a pack mule (that can be armed with lots of weapons) downsides: 1 nothing from befriending her just unlocking settlement stuff & robot parts 2 if you make her a Sentry-bot she'll be to big indoors 3 if you don't like her voice can't disable it (but could just build a different robot without it) The DLC isn't the worst (Contraptions) it isn't the best (Far Harbor/Nuka World. I prefer NW to FH but that's mostly because the fog and like the setting, even though FH had a better story than NW) but got season pass Edit: Jezebel (after Nuka World) she's a Bottle Mascot because she kinda a jerk, funny when she fights raiders slapping them to defend a settlement.
I just re-completed this a little before watching this. It seems you can actually sneak into the mechanist's control room using the three holotapes around the facility, which leads to fun interactions
Don't forget the *still unresolved* "Automatron Robot Reset Bug", where if you build a tricked-out robot provisioner (it's usually seen in provisioners), there is a chance that it will reset to the default unmodified Protectron if it's in a cell when the cell resets.
I dont know why, but i kimda feel bad for the mechanist. She wanted to help, but accidently killed a bunch of pelple. She also was not good at talking too people, so she just webt underground 😢😢
the best part of automatron which i still say to myself all the time, was the quote from the initial trailer. "you see junk i see the building blocks of life, mine in particular." great video Grey love this channel ✌
With some encryption you can determine the key by collecting enough data. Examples include Wi-Fi WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and DVD CSS (Content Scramble System). So Ada is likely collecting samples from the other robots for additional data to reverse or brute-force the Mechanist signal encryption key.
I agree it’s the weakest non-workshop DLC. Feels like it needed a lot more to it than just like 3 quests, a couple interiors and the robot workbench. I feel like the robot workbench justifies bothering with it though. I love having the ability to make my own provisioners and companions.
personally this is my fav dlc because of how OP and fun the robots are to build. Not to mention the rust devil armor can work really well for the nuka world dlc if you want.
The fact that this DLC doesn't wreck the entire main storyline as Nuka-Cola DLC did is good enough to be above it. It shouldn't be below Nuka DLC just for this. Btw, I haven't played fallout but I plan to (10 years later) just watching your videos to get a sense of what I am getting myself into 😊.
So I got all of the DLCs at once when I bought the special edition and my biggest problem with the DLC is that the random robots everywhere sometimes became nuisance at the beginning. It wasn’t a problem after I started to progress in the DLC itself but when I’m doing the main story and I have to deal with them, it was just annoying after a while.
Robot not for story. Robot for Robot. The government (minutemen) don't want you to know that having seven-hundred robots is legal. I have one-hundred robots at all times. If you ignore the story and go for the robots the DLC is one of my favorites. Rebuilding Ahab, making a bunch of space Adas to run shops, the list goes on. Mods to add eyebots and other nifty tid-bits make it even better. If it is viewed as it should probably be viewed, as a follower creator fun-dip of mechanical glory, than I'd say it deserves a bit more than a F in grade. The Mechanist follow up "destroy the robot" quests are great for robo-building resources, too. Just my opinion, here, but as I have based my entire fallout 4 experience (my first one) on being the "robot man," I can't but help thinkin' this grade is a tinge bit undeserved.
the worst thing about it is, that all random encounter spots do break when facing rust devils there as they permanently prevent anything from spawning there ever again. Todd bless Godd Howard
either you get rust devils again, or nothing at all. played automaton on my survival char few weeks ago and all of the random encounter spots are broken, even after finishing the main quest for the dlc@@DaDunge
That's my biggest annoyance with the DLC and why I sometimes delay or even skip doing Automatron. They overwrite so many base regular encounters that it becomes very difficult, if not nearly impossible, to ever see some of the more unique base random encounters They're decent to farm once the player is in the level 30's or 40's (or higher) though tend to be quite dangerous when the DLC first becomes available at lvl 15.
I personally think of automaton as a workshop dlc with added story rather than a true dlc it and the valt tec workshop are the same in my book I think they are both half way story and half workshop and should hold a ranking in both categories I think as a story dlc it is useless but as mentioned for a minute man playthrough or anyone into settlement building it is a must have dlc. Although it only really adds the robot workbench that one thing is a game changer for settlement robot provisioners, centuries , and workers. It also makes the minutemen look like a real faction to be delt with with minor effort as opposed to collecting, modding, and equipping armor and guns for your settlers and provisioners
It's a fair DLC, especially as ADA is a really good companion and likely the first of the 3 DLC companions the player will encounter, though my biggest gripe is how common Rust Devil and Mechanist robot encounters become and remain through the commonwealth after starting the DLC. I've only encountered a lot of the more unique base random encounters when I've skipped or delayed doing Automatron. The Mechanist's Lair is also a very disappointing settlement if you don't use it as a robot factory/provisioner's hub. Fun fact sequence breaking with TCL/Noclip the player can go straight to the fight with The Mechanist before they even encounter ADA.
I definitely think that your critiques were good, but weighted too much in the wrong directions. You made the point that they did work in choice, just not the way you would have wanted them to. They made unique weapons, a common complaint, but they weren't powerful or useful enough. I probably would have given it a 14/20, but I don't disagree with any of the substance of what you said, just the degree to which you subtracted points for the critiques. I would definitely recommend this DLC to anyone.
The fact you can go from lvl 12 to level 185 in about a hr was more then worth the 5$ I paid for it lol. Seriously fastest way to lvl in a game. I could spend another 2hrs n make lvl 300 probably.
I destroyed the robots on the conveyer line before they were released, and it glitched the game. The last robot didn't touch the ground so it never happened. Had to load a save. I think most people encountered the Mechinist in the Silver Shroud armor the first time in a vanilla game. Weight to protection ratio it's the best armor. I created heavily armored tank bots for provisioners in one play through. I liked to follow them on their routes just to watch the battles.
Automatron makes miss the armor piercing ammo from New Vegas. I use up so much ammo because of Automatron. The last time I was fortunate to get an armor piercing .50 cal sniper rifle, so it helps a little. I named it the Cobra Assault Cannon once I added that recon scope to the rifle.
I have an army of sentry bot/assultron provisioners for my settlements. It’s pretty awesome. Oh and Marcy long and Jezebel also get to wander the wasteland since all they do is complain.
From story no its lame, but for mechanic it's superb. Feature to can make any robot you want its really good. This also make human companion feel useless, and maks codesworth or curie (robots) become great companion. They can become heavy tank with pack of mule.
The Automatron DLC is a must-play in VR. The amazing animations and aesthetic of Automatrons are even more impressive in VR. And the final battle in The Mechanist's lair was the ultimate VR experience.
I love the Tesla Rifle with a commando setup. It can be fun shredding through groups of enemies, and energy weapons needed another option besides laser and plasma guns (well, and gamma). It's not the best, but I care more about fun than what does bigger numbers. I wouldn't use the Mechanist Lair as a provisioner hub. The best way to set up supply lines is to connect settlements to their closest neighbor. This will make your robot army walk the shortest paths, and thus make them more reliably present to help out along the road or in settlement raids.
I loved this DLC. Well, I just enjoy making all kinds of robots for all my settlements. lol They protect all of them, and then I use the new settlement as a robot manufacturing base. Too Harsh. I love your videos, by the way. Keep up the build videos, too.
I felt that the automatron DLC should have been base game but does add some nice additions with the robots. It gives some value to take on robots for additional parts to be unlocked for use, which in addition to Nuka world, can make for some useful robots. My largest peeve is that when you create a new body for Jezebel, it doesn't automatically name the bot Jezebel... If you don't rename the dumb thing, you lose her. Which doesn't matter that much, but still annoying. Without Mods, the DLC is a bit lacking overall and clearly shows that it was rushed and should have been longer than a few months of development to really make it a good DLC... but at least it's not the old Oblivion house DLCs that you had to spend HOURS grinding for gold to make them usable.
My personal headcanon for the Mechanist Lair, mainly due to its proximity to the Airport, is the SS turns it over to the BoS. They in turn use it to construct military robots to supplement their forces. With a limited supply of manpower available, Sentry Bots and Assaultrons could be integrated into patrol squads and security teams at the checkpoints and Cambridge PD station. Salvage teams could use them as pack mules. Some could even be sent to patrol the farms the BoS "procures" food supplies from during Feeding the Troops from Teagan. We see a similar concept to this in the Sentinel PA Companion Creation Club content with integrating Ai controlled PA suits into patrols.
though pretty much everything in CC should be taken with a grain of salt as canonically questionable, the outcasts in fallout 3 augmented their numbers with bots all the time, including robobrains and sentrybots, so considering all those individuals were accepted back into the BOS between games, it makes sense that they would be willing to accept that strategy.
The fact that she went "Oops, I didn't really think things through before unleashing those monstrosities" made me despise The Mechanist. 💢 At first I was gonna let her live but hearing that BS excuse made me think "What else is she gonna f*ck up now, by trying to make amends?", which led me to the conclusion "better NOT take chances with this one!" 🤖👎
It’s a pretty weak DLC, but the sheer flexibility that being able to produce robots for any purpose imaginable i think makes it worth it in the end. Having empty beds and extra resource requirements at settlements for the provisioners who are never there always bothered me. The robot provisioners fix that and let me utilize my settlers more thoughtfully, instead of just going for maximum occupancy to fill out one of each shop and still make enough food. I put Jezebel to use as a provisioner as well. She gets an unarmored protectron torso, a Handy thruster, and no arms, and has to run back and forth forever. I also made Ada a provisioner, mostly cuz she never shuts the fuck up if she’s anywhere nearby to you, and I was sick of her wandering nearby while I was working on weapons or armor sets and constantly spamming the same five lines. But she at least got a fully upgraded Assaultron kit.
I can largely agree with everything you say. What I have started to do recently (because I use the Unofficial patch which requires all the DLC) is trigger the start by killing the robots around Ada and then running away. This allows the appearance of the Rust Devils and their attendant robots as an extra peril of the Commonwealth. That's about it so far, the characters that I have done this with have completed their particular stories before I have to do anything else. So it adds a little extra flavour and that's it. I suppose to do this DLC justice I would have to have a new character created with the specific purpose of being "into robotics" and since I like making stuff I can see that that might happen.
I feel like you are being too harsh. The main story as you described it is worth more then a 2. And describing the alternative ending as a negative feels weird. Ada's legs make sense of a slow moving caravan that need the carrying capacity more than one robot being able to move fast speed. Explorable area, I guess, though a 1 seems only appropriate for no new areas. New Objects, honestly, you are underestimating the power of the new gear. Robot Armor ends up stronger than Combat Armor and has the highest Ballistic Resistance for arms and legs of the regular armor. Legendary Power Armor, Salvaged Assaultron head is the highest damage per shot Pistol in the game. Gameplay Expansion, most obvious thing to point out is that you missed a thing, Eyebot Pod. But also custom automations can be stronger than going solo, the instant death helms are just that powerful.
Considering you didn't mention it when talking about new features there's a Blueprint in the Mechanists Lair in her room after the main quest has been completed for an 'Eyebot Pod' that enables you to build Eyebots and send them out for crafting materials from a settlement
I'm also not a cryptography nut, but a very simple explanation is that each beacon has a unique key, and having more than one means they can be compared to more easily decode the incoming signal. That score... ugh, I can't. I'll give you first two, but you definitely overlooked the Eyebot Pod, and frankly when it comes to weapons, the robot weapons definitely make up for the lack of weapons for you to use, at least in my eyes. As for the Mechanist Lair being a bad settlement, yes. You can't build things to make settlers happy. Okay, fine, but robots won't be happy, or unhappy. It's a settlement that doesn't have much because it doesn't need much. I do enjoy the DLC quite a lot, and when you're playing on harder difficulties, those bots are nightmares.
I actually like how you correct the dlc, really shows the missed opportunities that were there for Bethesda and helps me look for a mod to make the play through more enjoyable
You did miss one item that you also get from finishing this DLC, the schematics to build the eyebot pods, so you can send the eyebots out to find things for you. I use them to find nuke grenades (a fairly rare item) but they can be sent to find many different items of your choosing.
After Nuka World it's my favourite!!! Making automatrons and putting them around is awesome. The most useful thing added to Fallout 4 by far. Cages are okay though. Sending heavily modded killbots on "supply" runs keeps the gunners at bay. Funny how the killbots get supply runs that go past super mutants and gunners! That's what the lair is good for as a start or end to a patrol. Your inability to use what is given in the DLC is not the devs fault it deserves higher marks.
I'd say your ranking is a bit low for what it is. It was an inexpensive dlc that starts at level 15. If you do it at that level it is a challenging dlc and that suit of power armor is leveled. If you start at level 15 it isn't XO-1 it is a leveled suit so that encounter with the rust devil leader and the assaultron is a much harder fight. It is a niche dlc, if you like robots. I actually like the fact that the start of the DLC is in the open world like that. It makes it more organic and also again if started early enough adds another faction to the random events table that spices up the travel around the wasteland.
If you want to replay this DLC and are playing high INT., get two ranks the robot expert perk or whatever it’s called. Being able to incite the bots the Mechanist throws at you, especially in that final gauntlet, is so much fun. It actually starts to feel like a different game.
In the "new object usefulness" section you completely skipped over the schematics that can be found in the lair that lets you able to build spotlights and eyebot pods. Not two huge or dlc changing items but interesting none the less
Not sure if it’s a pro or con, but I’m playing through for the first time (tv show bandwagon, don’t murder me) and I’m 40 hours in and I didn’t realize Ada was from the DLC. I’m used to games like borderlands and the Witcher where the DLC is an entirely different area that can be avoided. I had multiple quests forcing me to go to far harbor before I was half way through the main story but I was trying to avoid it. If I didn’t know beforehand that it was DLC I might not have even realized. It wasn’t part of the main game.
I know your scale is pretty good but a 2/5 for the storyline is a little harsh. the fact they wrote a pretty good Enclave story (which we don’t see that much from Bethesda) while also having the humor, as the mechanist is a complete subversion of expectations joke…I guess I’m just saying that a 3/5 for ‘pleasantly surprised’ points.
Automatron ain't perfect. It's a fun one-shot that adds a bit for replayability, mainly the Robot Workbench. If you're not into that, then don't get Automatron. It's pretty robot themed.
I would also give bonus points for ADA's personality. She is kinda similar to Curie, which is both a good and a bad thing. But all in all, I enjoyed her comments.
2 things that I really appreciate about Automatron: integration of the Silver Shroud into the quest, especially the final boss encounter, and the ability to shift your entire settlement logistics network to heavily armed robot caravaneers.
and the ability to build an absurd amount of robots to manned an absurd amount of artillery pieces i place throughout the commonwelth
@@Ethyl_inappropriateI will try that whenever I unlock artillery pieces bc that sounds like fun lmao
You can also set up a robot police and farmer force to protect and produce.
Pacify provisioners (away from settlements) to order them into power armor. Equip with some legendary effect gatler and nuka grenades. A veritable army of one. Even more awesome when you combine multiple of them and they all start opening up together on some poor warlord. Remember that the provisioners will start talking to you normally again after a couple of in-game days.
Definitely not recommended to make robot caravaneers though. Some weird ass bugs cause your robo caravans to revert to default naked protectron.
The fact you can have your own assaultron and sentry bot is super worth it for me
Agreed. I make robot defenders for some of my settlements and they're good for farming.
You can also reach lvl 200 in a hr or 2.
I just wish you could have a mr gutsy paint/voice
This DLC deserves a 5/5 simply for the ability to transform Codsworth into GODSWORTH.
Synth Curie is cuddly, but dual minigun Curie is peak performance. Synths can only carry one minigun, handy jet can carry two over any terrain even water, and 50 extra pounds of my stuff.
This DLC is short by comparing other DLC
0/5 for breaking everyones game rendering it unplayable on console.
@@fallenangelzgamesget a pc G idk🤷♂️
@@nonipplenoah6179 pc died a year ago 😢 fml
I really like the Rust Devils as a faction. Fallout 4 really needed more unique raider factions. Although I do think it would’ve been cool to have a terminal or holotape somewhere explaining that they were forced out of Nuka World by the arrival of Colter’s gang as kind of a way to foreshadow the future DLCs.
Rust devils and rogue bot swarms totally dunk on base game world encounters though, minuteman, BoS, raiders, mutants, bugs, everything gets smashed by crazy tanky exploding robots.
@@yoloman3607 and they’re even more of a pain at higher difficulties and lower levels
If there's one thing I have to lever some criticism about in terms of the story, is that why isn't The Brotherhood notified about the mysterious appearance of robots in the Commonwealth. Their whole thing is the preservation of technology, yet none of them are notified about it.
The DLC definitely could have been integrated into the four main factions to make it better, perhaps with a different first quest for each with Ada being at a different location depending on the faction the player is dealing with. The biggest problem is that because of Fallout 4's main story it would make the DLC unable to be accessed for those players that prefer not engaging with the factions in Act 1 and severely limit how the DLC could be accessed for those players in Act 3 or having finished the main quest with 1 to 3 of the main factions destroyed.
>Ada's legs
I propose the theory that Ada's owner worked with what they had on hand that was functional. Protectron parts are probably more common considering how many we see around the wastes as opposed to Assaultrons.
>is it good?
Automatron is worth a run through, and the bot bench is great.
I’d also posit that they did it for the increased carry capacity, in combination with the commonality of the parts and ease of repair
@@douglaszelazny1094 Interesting observation. Protectron legs DO look sturdier than an Assaultron's legs.
@@snarkymoosesshack8793 Maybe because if she already had assaultron legs she will be already OP , you guys stop lorified everything
@@denomizotakh Cope.
Considering what can become of an Assaultron if you have to fight one, there’s a good chance there won’t be many usable parts. And Protectrons were/are everywhere in daily life, while the Assaultrons were only military robots.
I always knew Automatron was a weak DLC, but I can't help but like it because I loved building robots so much. I have fond memories buiding a kind of weak robot but eventually turning him into a Sentry bot with a gatling laser and mini nuke launcher. He was jet black and had a skull face with red light shining through. My friend thought he was terrifying. Loved traveling with him and building all sorts of robots to patrol.
There is a glitch to this dlc to lvl fast. I went from lvl 12 to level 185 in about a hr n a half.
Yeah, the story for dlc is laughably pitiful, especially since half the steps end up as basically radiants, but the goods you get from it help me enjoy it, from the tesla armor to to sone of the weapons, and especially the robots bring major draw, with making Codsworth into a total death machine throughout the game (regardless of losing hat ability (which mod fixed regardless)
I always break out The Silver Shroud outfit for the final fight for some unique dialog with The Mechanist. We needed more Silver Shroud lines after resolving things with Kent/Sinjin. I do wish that we had some costumed justice dialog options when interacting with Eddie Winter or even with the Raiders of Nukaworld. (Unless I missed something cool :) I just read on reddit that if you take the SS outfit to Dry Rock Gulch, the protectrons there have SS unique conversation options. It would be cool if when out in the wastes while wearing the Mechanist outfit, that you could have unique encounters. Perhaps even making some NPC's hostile, because they were victims of a robot attack, like Ada. Or have a kid ask for your autograph, as could happen in Fallout 3, where you could also give the suit to the kid.
Coulter WILL comment on your outfit if you show up to the Cola Cars arena fight as the Shroud
The turretbot in the final fight is the most dangerous enemy in the entire game. One thing I like is the extra robot mods available through Nuka-World, especially the nuka-launcher and the blue automatic space laser, which makes for fantastic settlement defense assaultrons. (edit) There is one more little known mechanic. The radiant quest given by Izabelle can result in finding npc's you can send to your settlements, and apparently bypasses the settler limit, giving low charisma characters an option for more settlers.
One thing that I really like about this DLC: making sentry bots for supply lines. Coupled with a mod that turns the supply-line brahmin into Mr Handy’s (Yagisan’s mod), it’s as if the Commonwealth were being patrolled properly - much better than settler’s and Minutemen roaming the wastelands.
Assigning Jezebel to the supply lines is worthwhile also, then she’s not underfoot and is actually being useful.
Re; the cryptography fetch quest and multiple antennas: there is one way it could work that would make sense in terms of cryptography and signal security: frequency hopping. First, we assume that there is one channel that sends out a lightly encoded signal that simply tells the robots what frequency to jump to next, with one antenna always tuned to that one frequency. Second, the other antenna is tuned to the requested new frequency each time it changes, and that frequency contains the actual communications with heavier encryption and more bandwidth utilized.
That way, no one can just casually sit on whatever frequency they happen to use and record/listen/analyze until they finally crack the encryption. If they don't know what frequency to hop to next and when, all they get is a little bit of code here or there they might happen across as they scan up and down the dial (as it were). That's basically obscurity by mobility. My father used to tell me about working in signal intelligence in the Army in the Vietnam era, and they would find signals from North Vietnamese and Viet Cong units, but they would usually send a brief code block, then move to another location, and send another block, often on another frequency, to frustrate triangulation. He didn't work in decoding, but the assumption was that the last bit of the code block was telling the receiver what frequency the next code block would be sent on.
So Ada might need one antenna to track the frequency hops, and a second antenna to actually hop along and accumulate enough of a data set to decrypt.
The other option is what the Institute uses: obscurity by ubiquity (specifically, they're using a kind of steganography, hiding code in something that appears to be clear signal). 24/7/365 classical music. Just seems like someone with a radio transmitter and a penchant for music from way back when, or an old robot or computer that never got told to change up the broadcast or shut down when the bombs fell. No one bothers looking for it or hunting through the signal to see if there's a carrier wave hidden in it -- until they do, and that exposes a potential security hole you could literally fit an invasion force through (though admittedly it takes help from an exile, so there's a problem in personnel information security there, too).
Assaultrons legs can be shot and blown off with mines, I would imagine Ada being a modified assaultron, had her original body intact but the years of fighting has led to her needing “optimization”
I can definitely recommend this dlc to Fallout 4 players. Despite it's short story you will get really good items like Tesla T-60 armor, Mechanist's armor (you can upgrade it with Ballistic weave), and on to of that you will get the possibility to build the best companion robot in this game.
Ps. The Mechanist's lair gets few points for not getting raided at all despite its lacking few key elements like water, or farming crops.
love this dlc it ads every thing i need in a dlc the only thing i miss is the securitron robot from new vegas
For combat : you can build The best companion in game.
Yes, Mechanist Armor with ballistic weave is the best light armor in the game
@@t84t748748t6 I on other hand miss the Eyebot follower in Fallout 4.
@@gyorgyfarkas1475 however they can die permanently if not already a companion
I give Jezebel an upgraded body designed for mobile combat, with Robobrain body and treads, Sentry arms, and heavy weapons. I then use her as the Provisioner connecting Sunshine Tidings Co-op and the Nuka-World Red Rocket. Keeps her out of the way, and she frequently is around to help out when I'm farming legendaries in the Nuka-World desert.
She owns a bar for me called “Jezebel’s place” where she just is a sassy mean bartender 😂
@@commentsforthealgorithm I would think KLEO would be the better choice though.
The doors in the Mechanist's lair was an homage to Mystery Science Theater 3000... a show about a man on a space station with four robots that he made himself from parts found on the satellite.
'Get Smart' intro...
@@johnoglesby-vw7ck ... has nothing to do with it.
@@johnoglesby-vw7ck Exactly what I thought. The MST3000 doors were a call-back to Get Smart.
My personal theory for Ada's downgraded legs are that her upgraded arm draws more power and her systems couldn't support both her regular legs and the sentry arm. So the legs were decided to be less important as the caravan often doesn't move very quickly.
Also she was the first companion i wanted to romance but you can't romance her.
Bro really wanted that robussy💀
I am terribly sorry for the cringe you may have endured reading that, but I found it so funny I had to write it (I have the humor of a 14-year old)
@@mr.cauliflower3536 I think it’s her voice acting
Curie gang
Ada is my fav companion by far
@@mr.cauliflower3536 sentry bot legs robussy ☠️
I find the story line OK, but love making assaultrons and assigning them to be supply line provisioners. Many times when I am in a fight out in the commonwealth they come to my aid, and I don't lose settlers to the supply line. Though I really dislike when they revert back to bare-bones protectrons and I have to retool them.
Atron provisioners are a fucking meme. I've lost count how many times I've been neck deep in the ruins, only to hear in the distance the unmistakable sound of an Assaultron's death stare..only to come upon the scene of tremendous violence, to bear witness to the droid and brahmin resuming their deliveries to my various slums across Boston.
Never stops being funny.
It cracks me up when I go back to the Mechanist's lair and there are assaultrons and pack brahmin everywhere.
i found that if you don't fast travel to the connected settlement the reset bug doesn't happen. example - Greygarden to Red Rocket, fast travel from outside the GG cell to Concorde. i started doing that years back and have never had a problem since.
@@raverdeath100 Thank you for this tip, I'm definitely going to try it.
Assaultrons can also be used to man the artillery which I think is pretty cool.
The thing that would have made this DLC worth it, for me, is if quest progression gave you the Robotics Expert perks for free. They're not particularly useful in the main game, so I'd love for there to have been a different perk in that spot on the Science skill tree. Also would have liked Isabel as a proper follower or NPC. The Minutemen can always use another engineer...
Isabel is a decent vendor. She sells fibre optics and oil.
Another issue: the Rust Devil random encounters are EVERYWHERE. I use two mods that reduce the RD random encounters and the Automatron loading screens
Yeah the amount of Rust Devil and Mechanist robot encounters the player starts dealing with once they encounter ADA is why I often put off starting Automatron until late in my playthrough, if not skip it completely. They overwrite so many regular encounters that it's tended to be only when I put off doing the DLC that I get many of the more unique encounters. The random encounters also can be quite difficult if you start doing the DLC around when it becomes available at lvl 15- many will spawn in the 20's and even the low 30's and can quickly down the player if not careful.
@@jcohasset23nah, its cool, thowe dead bots drop free mod upgrades.
@@carloscrispens4816 And you get some really sweet upgrades for your bots when you beat the DLC as well.
@@carloscrispens4816while true, if you also want all special tier 4 shop settlers, it makes it a nightmare, because so many get overwritten by murderous robots that you need to rely on the coin flip that encounter ISNT automatron, since it gets a whopping 50% chance to be, mod game to have chances lowered, which might not be option for console, or use commands to warp npcs to you to then invite, which absolutely isn’t option for console
I have to say, I love the way you approach the "value" of these DLCs. When I see these videos I snap to them as fast as I can.
One of my favorite Bethesda dlcs
Actually this DLC pairs well with the Next Gen upgrade that came out as if you wanted to make short work of the Bots do the Enclave quest line and you can score Tesla cannons which make short work of the Bots.
And don’t forget you can give codsworth legs
mod curie before she becomes a synth sure its a waste but i find it funny
@@t84t748748t6 make her into a robobrain so she technically gets part of what she wants
@@PhosphorescentMothI honestly think you should be able to give synth bodies to those celebrity robobrains living in Vault 118 on Far Harbour.
Sexy codsworth🤤
I think it's good. The quest might be just OK, but the robot building opens up a whole new dimension of play. My favorite bot is a loot hauling bot built on a sentry bot chasis with something like a gantling laser. I call him HANK and I loves him.
It’s a good DLC, yes it’s very short but I like the weapons they add. Really unique and fun to use, you also for got to mention the protections gaze laser rifle, which is a good addition in my opinion.
That short cut is a pretty nice feature when playing on survival lol. That final boss fight is tough on survival if you don't cheese it or take it on at a higher level.
Ada is actually pretty good companion too, plus all the modifications for her
Omg i love those videos, i can just let them run in the background while woodworking. Amazing content! Tbh i would watch your vids without footage and sound only
18:50 be grateful that they added this workaround, the Mechanist Boss Fight is the buggiest in the entire game
The good news is, destroying robots grants parts, making it a little less resource intensive.
Automatron also pairs with Nuka World, allowing you to build robots from that DLC as well.
True, nothing like turning Codsworth into a walking -advertisement- soda machine, even if he gives you water instead
Grey I've binged watched a dozen of your videos and I love them. Keeps me playing my own Fallout story.
You got the like when you called Jezi a bitch in the sly… cracked me up. 😂
Having just played through the entire Automatron story for the first time, I can say I enjoyed it much more than you would expect from Grey's review, but I agree it definitely feels rushed. In addition to Grey's criticisms, I'd mention that Ada's dialog does not update, after the completion of the quest, she still talks as if the Mechanist has yet to be defeated. It's fun, it's got some decent rewards, but in typical Besthesda fashion, it could've been so much more. But I still give it a better score than Grey- 12 out of 20. 3 Storyline, 2 Explorable, 2 Usefulness, 5 Expansion. I didn't run the Rust Devil dungeon backwards, but post quest, I could definitely see how you could. To me, that was a nicely confusing layout that only made sense after the end. I did go back through it multiple times scrapping, it definitely has a lot. As a vanilla player, doing a low tech build (no Science!), I guess I appreciated that Tesla armor a lot more than the usual gamer!
When I first played Automatron, I came up with this plan of building a bunch of ProvisionBots to a standardised design - Assaultron laser head, Protectron torso, Robobrain treads, storage armour, lasers - and using them as my provisioners on every route. Gave them names describing their routes, like ProvisionBot Sh-Rr running between Sanctuary Hills and Red Rocket, and set them loose. Unfortunately, it turns out there's a bug where your custom-built bots will revert to base Protectron parts, making the whole thing entirely pointless.
I first played fallout four about four years ago. I bought all the dlc with it and didn't pay much attention to what the dlc was. (I think the logic behind that decision was fallout new vegas dlc was so good, four's should be too). I didn't realize automation was dlc until well after completing it. With that in mind I thought it was pretty cool because I wasn't looking at it as dlc but rather as just part of the base game.
The Enemies are cool, the Dungeons are interesting, the Robot building is awesome. OFC this DLC is worth playing.
Id say in todays economy, a $10 DLC 1 hour DLC is infinitely better than a $20 skin
- Ngl I prefer Automatron to Nuka World, it adds a new non-intrusive mechanic (build robots) compared to the raider outposts that can bug out Preston.
- It gives the possibility to build a companion with 400+ carry capacity, I don't care about your prefered playstyle, having more carry weight is ALMOST universally good.
- I disagree about the Mechanist Lair, we have already a bunch of settlements good for crops and having people. Flavor wise, an underground bunker to build a storage facility, or factory using the contraptions dlc is awesome, it even has a huge industrial lift to nail the aesthetics.
- With the right set of perks selection playing solo is better - I prefer to use NPC/Minions to do my work. A small point but I hate when people tell me (indirectly or not) how to play the game.
The Mechanist's Lair works well as a pure robot caravan dispatch/crafting hub, and you don't need food there if that's all you're using it for. All you need to do is build robots and assign them to a caravan to another settlement. Robots don't need food, water, or beds, and as long as you never make the mistake of building a Recruitment Beacon, you'll never get human or Ghoul settlers.
It makes sense to use it that way, too, because it's explicitly a "superhero" lair (meaning you logically shouldn't broadcast the location to the entire Commonwealth) for a "superhero" who wanted to use robots to patrol and help the Commonwealth (which you can achieve by sending robots out to defend trade routes).
You can't build a recruitment beacon in the Mechanists Lair, so no worries on that front.
I always bring Codsworth to the Automatron playthrough. This DLC really make him become a faithfal killing machine !
Best part is that you can harvest Jezabels head back off a robot chassi through a bug so that you can get rid of her forever if you dislike her enough.
I think Ada is probably the best companion: 1 she give 0 F***s what you do (like Dogmeat) 2 you can mod her however you want (plus sometimes for free depending on what mods you find on random robots) 3 she can be a pack mule (that can be armed with lots of weapons)
downsides: 1 nothing from befriending her just unlocking settlement stuff & robot parts 2 if you make her a Sentry-bot she'll be to big indoors 3 if you don't like her voice can't disable it (but could just build a different robot without it)
The DLC isn't the worst (Contraptions) it isn't the best (Far Harbor/Nuka World. I prefer NW to FH but that's mostly because the fog and like the setting, even though FH had a better story than NW) but got season pass
Edit: Jezebel (after Nuka World) she's a Bottle Mascot because she kinda a jerk, funny when she fights raiders slapping them to defend a settlement.
I just re-completed this a little before watching this. It seems you can actually sneak into the mechanist's control room using the three holotapes around the facility, which leads to fun interactions
Don't forget the *still unresolved* "Automatron Robot Reset Bug", where if you build a tricked-out robot provisioner (it's usually seen in provisioners), there is a chance that it will reset to the default unmodified Protectron if it's in a cell when the cell resets.
Ada has Protectron legs because they have more carry weight than Assaultron legs and she was traveling with a caravan
I dont know why, but i kimda feel bad for the mechanist. She wanted to help, but accidently killed a bunch of pelple. She also was not good at talking too people, so she just webt underground 😢😢
the best part of automatron which i still say to myself all the time, was the quote from the initial trailer. "you see junk i see the building blocks of life, mine in particular." great video Grey love this channel ✌
my fav part about this dlc is that theres more enemy patrols around the commonwealth, makes the open world more dynamic and random
I just finished it again yesterday. It's fun.
8/20 feels perfectly appropriate for what was a mid dlc
I loved building the robots. They destroy settlement attackers and are so fun to mix around
The best part about this DLC was the legendary power armor. Perfect for my wounding Gatling laser 😈
With some encryption you can determine the key by collecting enough data. Examples include Wi-Fi WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and DVD CSS (Content Scramble System). So Ada is likely collecting samples from the other robots for additional data to reverse or brute-force the Mechanist signal encryption key.
I agree it’s the weakest non-workshop DLC. Feels like it needed a lot more to it than just like 3 quests, a couple interiors and the robot workbench. I feel like the robot workbench justifies bothering with it though. I love having the ability to make my own provisioners and companions.
personally this is my fav dlc because of how OP and fun the robots are to build. Not to mention the rust devil armor can work really well for the nuka world dlc if you want.
The fact that this DLC doesn't wreck the entire main storyline as Nuka-Cola DLC did is good enough to be above it. It shouldn't be below Nuka DLC just for this. Btw, I haven't played fallout but I plan to (10 years later) just watching your videos to get a sense of what I am getting myself into 😊.
“The robots we made using the brains of serial killers keep killing people. I wonder why.”
So I got all of the DLCs at once when I bought the special edition and my biggest problem with the DLC is that the random robots everywhere sometimes became nuisance at the beginning. It wasn’t a problem after I started to progress in the DLC itself but when I’m doing the main story and I have to deal with them, it was just annoying after a while.
Robot not for story. Robot for Robot. The government (minutemen) don't want you to know that having seven-hundred robots is legal. I have one-hundred robots at all times.
If you ignore the story and go for the robots the DLC is one of my favorites. Rebuilding Ahab, making a bunch of space Adas to run shops, the list goes on. Mods to add eyebots and other nifty tid-bits make it even better. If it is viewed as it should probably be viewed, as a follower creator fun-dip of mechanical glory, than I'd say it deserves a bit more than a F in grade. The Mechanist follow up "destroy the robot" quests are great for robo-building resources, too. Just my opinion, here, but as I have based my entire fallout 4 experience (my first one) on being the "robot man," I can't but help thinkin' this grade is a tinge bit undeserved.
Thanks for the instant goosebumps that came with seeing the ME3 Citadel DLC pic
the worst thing about it is, that all random encounter spots do break when facing rust devils there as they permanently prevent anything from spawning there ever again. Todd bless Godd Howard
You mean anything else? Cause Rust Devils spawn loads in the same locaitons.
either you get rust devils again, or nothing at all. played automaton on my survival char few weeks ago and all of the random encounter spots are broken, even after finishing the main quest for the dlc@@DaDunge
If i recall unofficial patch fixes that
That's my biggest annoyance with the DLC and why I sometimes delay or even skip doing Automatron. They overwrite so many base regular encounters that it becomes very difficult, if not nearly impossible, to ever see some of the more unique base random encounters They're decent to farm once the player is in the level 30's or 40's (or higher) though tend to be quite dangerous when the DLC first becomes available at lvl 15.
nope, im rockin that and it still it what is is sadly :( @@honorguard7616
I personally think of automaton as a workshop dlc with added story rather than a true dlc it and the valt tec workshop are the same in my book I think they are both half way story and half workshop and should hold a ranking in both categories I think as a story dlc it is useless but as mentioned for a minute man playthrough or anyone into settlement building it is a must have dlc. Although it only really adds the robot workbench that one thing is a game changer for settlement robot provisioners, centuries , and workers. It also makes the minutemen look like a real faction to be delt with with minor effort as opposed to collecting, modding, and equipping armor and guns for your settlers and provisioners
It's a fair DLC, especially as ADA is a really good companion and likely the first of the 3 DLC companions the player will encounter, though my biggest gripe is how common Rust Devil and Mechanist robot encounters become and remain through the commonwealth after starting the DLC. I've only encountered a lot of the more unique base random encounters when I've skipped or delayed doing Automatron. The Mechanist's Lair is also a very disappointing settlement if you don't use it as a robot factory/provisioner's hub. Fun fact sequence breaking with TCL/Noclip the player can go straight to the fight with The Mechanist before they even encounter ADA.
I definitely think that your critiques were good, but weighted too much in the wrong directions. You made the point that they did work in choice, just not the way you would have wanted them to. They made unique weapons, a common complaint, but they weren't powerful or useful enough. I probably would have given it a 14/20, but I don't disagree with any of the substance of what you said, just the degree to which you subtracted points for the critiques. I would definitely recommend this DLC to anyone.
The fact you can go from lvl 12 to level 185 in about a hr was more then worth the 5$ I paid for it lol. Seriously fastest way to lvl in a game. I could spend another 2hrs n make lvl 300 probably.
I destroyed the robots on the conveyer line before they were released, and it glitched the game. The last robot didn't touch the ground so it never happened. Had to load a save.
I think most people encountered the Mechinist in the Silver Shroud armor the first time in a vanilla game. Weight to protection ratio it's the best armor.
I created heavily armored tank bots for provisioners in one play through. I liked to follow them on their routes just to watch the battles.
Automatron makes miss the armor piercing ammo from New Vegas. I use up so much ammo because of Automatron. The last time I was fortunate to get an armor piercing .50 cal sniper rifle, so it helps a little. I named it the Cobra Assault Cannon once I added that recon scope to the rifle.
I have an army of sentry bot/assultron provisioners for my settlements. It’s pretty awesome. Oh and Marcy long and Jezebel also get to wander the wasteland since all they do is complain.
Grey makes the most enjoyable and chillest Fallout 4 content there is
From story no its lame, but for mechanic it's superb. Feature to can make any robot you want its really good. This also make human companion feel useless, and maks codesworth or curie (robots) become great companion. They can become heavy tank with pack of mule.
The General Atomics factory wasn't added by Automatron, just changed by it. Without the DLC, it's populated by Mister Handy and Mister Gutsy bots.
The Automatron DLC is a must-play in VR. The amazing animations and aesthetic of Automatrons are even more impressive in VR. And the final battle in The Mechanist's lair was the ultimate VR experience.
I love the Tesla Rifle with a commando setup. It can be fun shredding through groups of enemies, and energy weapons needed another option besides laser and plasma guns (well, and gamma). It's not the best, but I care more about fun than what does bigger numbers.
I wouldn't use the Mechanist Lair as a provisioner hub. The best way to set up supply lines is to connect settlements to their closest neighbor. This will make your robot army walk the shortest paths, and thus make them more reliably present to help out along the road or in settlement raids.
I loved this DLC. Well, I just enjoy making all kinds of robots for all my settlements. lol They protect all of them, and then I use the new settlement as a robot manufacturing base. Too Harsh. I love your videos, by the way. Keep up the build videos, too.
I felt that the automatron DLC should have been base game but does add some nice additions with the robots. It gives some value to take on robots for additional parts to be unlocked for use, which in addition to Nuka world, can make for some useful robots.
My largest peeve is that when you create a new body for Jezebel, it doesn't automatically name the bot Jezebel... If you don't rename the dumb thing, you lose her. Which doesn't matter that much, but still annoying.
Without Mods, the DLC is a bit lacking overall and clearly shows that it was rushed and should have been longer than a few months of development to really make it a good DLC... but at least it's not the old Oblivion house DLCs that you had to spend HOURS grinding for gold to make them usable.
Adas legs were to help carry more supplies for the caravan
My personal headcanon for the Mechanist Lair, mainly due to its proximity to the Airport, is the SS turns it over to the BoS. They in turn use it to construct military robots to supplement their forces. With a limited supply of manpower available, Sentry Bots and Assaultrons could be integrated into patrol squads and security teams at the checkpoints and Cambridge PD station. Salvage teams could use them as pack mules. Some could even be sent to patrol the farms the BoS "procures" food supplies from during Feeding the Troops from Teagan.
We see a similar concept to this in the Sentinel PA Companion Creation Club content with integrating Ai controlled PA suits into patrols.
though pretty much everything in CC should be taken with a grain of salt as canonically questionable, the outcasts in fallout 3 augmented their numbers with bots all the time, including robobrains and sentrybots, so considering all those individuals were accepted back into the BOS between games, it makes sense that they would be willing to accept that strategy.
The fact that she went "Oops, I didn't really think things through before unleashing those monstrosities" made me despise The Mechanist. 💢
At first I was gonna let her live but hearing that BS excuse made me think "What else is she gonna f*ck up now, by trying to make amends?", which led me to the conclusion "better NOT take chances with this one!" 🤖👎
It’s a pretty weak DLC, but the sheer flexibility that being able to produce robots for any purpose imaginable i think makes it worth it in the end. Having empty beds and extra resource requirements at settlements for the provisioners who are never there always bothered me. The robot provisioners fix that and let me utilize my settlers more thoughtfully, instead of just going for maximum occupancy to fill out one of each shop and still make enough food.
I put Jezebel to use as a provisioner as well. She gets an unarmored protectron torso, a Handy thruster, and no arms, and has to run back and forth forever.
I also made Ada a provisioner, mostly cuz she never shuts the fuck up if she’s anywhere nearby to you, and I was sick of her wandering nearby while I was working on weapons or armor sets and constantly spamming the same five lines. But she at least got a fully upgraded Assaultron kit.
I can largely agree with everything you say. What I have started to do recently (because I use the Unofficial patch which requires all the DLC) is trigger the start by killing the robots around Ada and then running away. This allows the appearance of the Rust Devils and their attendant robots as an extra peril of the Commonwealth. That's about it so far, the characters that I have done this with have completed their particular stories before I have to do anything else. So it adds a little extra flavour and that's it. I suppose to do this DLC justice I would have to have a new character created with the specific purpose of being "into robotics" and since I like making stuff I can see that that might happen.
I feel like you are being too harsh.
The main story as you described it is worth more then a 2. And describing the alternative ending as a negative feels weird.
Ada's legs make sense of a slow moving caravan that need the carrying capacity more than one robot being able to move fast speed.
Explorable area, I guess, though a 1 seems only appropriate for no new areas.
New Objects, honestly, you are underestimating the power of the new gear. Robot Armor ends up stronger than Combat Armor and has the highest Ballistic Resistance for arms and legs of the regular armor. Legendary Power Armor, Salvaged Assaultron head is the highest damage per shot Pistol in the game.
Gameplay Expansion, most obvious thing to point out is that you missed a thing, Eyebot Pod.
But also custom automations can be stronger than going solo, the instant death helms are just that powerful.
I do believe the Rust Devil's hangar base was a new explorable area in the DLC along with the Mechanist base/New settlement.
Considering you didn't mention it when talking about new features there's a Blueprint in the Mechanists Lair in her room after the main quest has been completed for an 'Eyebot Pod' that enables you to build Eyebots and send them out for crafting materials from a settlement
I'm also not a cryptography nut, but a very simple explanation is that each beacon has a unique key, and having more than one means they can be compared to more easily decode the incoming signal.
That score... ugh, I can't. I'll give you first two, but you definitely overlooked the Eyebot Pod, and frankly when it comes to weapons, the robot weapons definitely make up for the lack of weapons for you to use, at least in my eyes. As for the Mechanist Lair being a bad settlement, yes. You can't build things to make settlers happy. Okay, fine, but robots won't be happy, or unhappy. It's a settlement that doesn't have much because it doesn't need much.
I do enjoy the DLC quite a lot, and when you're playing on harder difficulties, those bots are nightmares.
Yes. Yes it is.
I actually like how you correct the dlc, really shows the missed opportunities that were there for Bethesda and helps me look for a mod to make the play through more enjoyable
the holotape elevator shortcut is for survival
I'm really hyped to be playing Fallout 4 again with the ps5 update
You did not just diss the Tesla rifle! Ive carried that thing through all the dlcs its op
The assultron helmet is one of the best helmets in the game looks wise, so that alone makes this an amazing dlc.
You did miss one item that you also get from finishing this DLC, the schematics to build the eyebot pods, so you can send the eyebots out to find things for you. I use them to find nuke grenades (a fairly rare item) but they can be sent to find many different items of your choosing.
After Nuka World it's my favourite!!! Making automatrons and putting them around is awesome. The most useful thing added to Fallout 4 by far. Cages are okay though. Sending heavily modded killbots on "supply" runs keeps the gunners at bay. Funny how the killbots get supply runs that go past super mutants and gunners! That's what the lair is good for as a start or end to a patrol. Your inability to use what is given in the DLC is not the devs fault it deserves higher marks.
I'd say your ranking is a bit low for what it is. It was an inexpensive dlc that starts at level 15. If you do it at that level it is a challenging dlc and that suit of power armor is leveled. If you start at level 15 it isn't XO-1 it is a leveled suit so that encounter with the rust devil leader and the assaultron is a much harder fight. It is a niche dlc, if you like robots. I actually like the fact that the start of the DLC is in the open world like that. It makes it more organic and also again if started early enough adds another faction to the random events table that spices up the travel around the wasteland.
If you want to replay this DLC and are playing high INT., get two ranks the robot expert perk or whatever it’s called. Being able to incite the bots the Mechanist throws at you, especially in that final gauntlet, is so much fun. It actually starts to feel like a different game.
In the "new object usefulness" section you completely skipped over the schematics that can be found in the lair that lets you able to build spotlights and eyebot pods. Not two huge or dlc changing items but interesting none the less
Not sure if it’s a pro or con, but I’m playing through for the first time (tv show bandwagon, don’t murder me) and I’m 40 hours in and I didn’t realize Ada was from the DLC. I’m used to games like borderlands and the Witcher where the DLC is an entirely different area that can be avoided. I had multiple quests forcing me to go to far harbor before I was half way through the main story but I was trying to avoid it. If I didn’t know beforehand that it was DLC I might not have even realized. It wasn’t part of the main game.
I know your scale is pretty good but a 2/5 for the storyline is a little harsh. the fact they wrote a pretty good Enclave story (which we don’t see that much from Bethesda) while also having the humor, as the mechanist is a complete subversion of expectations joke…I guess I’m just saying that a 3/5 for ‘pleasantly surprised’ points.
Automatron ain't perfect. It's a fun one-shot that adds a bit for replayability, mainly the Robot Workbench. If you're not into that, then don't get Automatron. It's pretty robot themed.
This DLC added Tesla Power Armor... nuff said 😂
I would also give bonus points for ADA's personality. She is kinda similar to Curie, which is both a good and a bad thing. But all in all, I enjoyed her comments.
As a big MST3K fan, I give the Mechanist Lair door openings a 5/5. And who did Joel watch all the movies with? Robots!
I thought the same thing. Always wondered if it was intended to be a reference. At least we got a clear one from Nika World.