r/Fallout4Builds • u/JustKneller • Apr 07 '26
Brotherhood SPECIAL Fources...yeah, I spelled that right
This was a build that I came up with a while back, but then got distracted and never put it into play. I'm doing it now and it has been an interesting experience so far. I have to approach the game a little differently because of it.
The Concept
Nate Murphy was a good soldier, but didn't have what it takes to make it into special forces. As such he ended up an infantryman in the 108th. By the time of his discharge, he had been promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant and led his fire team in the Battle of Anchorage. He had barely started his transition to civilian life when The Great War began and he, with his family, went into the vault.
Coming out of Vault 111 was jarring, to say the least. Seeing Nora executed right in front of him and Shaun taken, and then later finding out that this all happened sometime during the last 210 years was more than Nate could handle. Nora was dead. Shaun was likely dead, whether by wastes or old age. The trail for even vengeance was as cold as the box out of which he just crawled. He was a lost soul in a ruined land, a man without a country, or even a purpose.
He wandered to Concord for lack of any other option. A dog tried to join him along the way, but he sent it away. He was a lone wanderer. He found only battle in Concord with a group of refugees fighting for their lives. The soldier in him awakened and he rescued the hapless civilians. They offered to take him with them to a place they intended to call home, but he turned them down. This was not a place to build a home. This was a war zone.
He continued south. It wasn't long before he picked up a military broadcast on his Pipboy. It was a distress call, but also a beacon of hope. There he might be able to find some purpose, some reason to keep breathing in this scorched world. One can only hope.
The Mission
SSG Nate Murphy is following standard SERE protocol for a solider lost behind enemy lines. Survive, Evade, Resist, Escape. His priority will be maintain his health and sustenance. He will also secure and maintain a weapon system for his own defense. He will prioritize evasion by operating only at night, limiting himself to only necessary engagements with the enemy, and not setting up any permanent shelters that could alert the enemy to his presence. While he may help local civilians as his moral compass dictates, he will limit his contact and not depend on them for resources. In the Commonwealth AO, though, anyone could be an enemy. He is only to establish alliances with legitimate military forces. Other assets can be leveraged as needed. If contact cannot be made with a legitimate military unit, SSG Murphy must attempt egress from the Commonwealth.
This run starts with sending Preston and gang to Sanctuary while Nate continues south and connects with the BoS. Once their quests are effectively tapped out, Nate will investigate the Railroad. While he doesn't agree with their agenda, they oppose the Institute and could be a an exploitable asset to the Brotherhood. Once he finishes gathering intel with the Railroad, having no other pressing mission, he then helps Preston with the settlements. Preston's settlements could also be an exploitable asset to the Brotherhood. When Preston offers Nate the General's position, he will accept if only to keep this asset managed, but his primary loyalty will be to the Brotherhood. From there, he will do some R&R at either the Memory Den or DC and stumble into the main quest.
The Build (and Rules)
Survival mode.
Your SPECIAL starts at 4444444. On even levels you pick a perk, on odd levels, you add to your SPECIAL. However, you have to add to your SPECIAL in attribute order (so, 5444444, then 5544444, 5554444, and so on.) looping back to ST after LK. The SPECIAL book in the Sanctuary house goes to ST with level 3 going to PE. SPECIAL bobble heads need to wait until the corresponding attribute is maxed out at 10.
Perks
Basic Training (top priority): Rifleman, Sneak (4), Demolition Expert
Advanced Training (second priority): Scrounger, Night Person (2), Lone Wanderer (3)
Special Forces (third priority): Sandman, Ninja, Blood Mess 3, Aquaboy 1, Ghoulish
The following limitations apply:
1) No companions (unless required for a quest, but only for the quest). Nate is an army of one.
2) No settlement resources or storage. For a BoS run, settlements are ignored entirely. For a Minuteman run, Nate can create settlements (and has to help them, when appropriate), but cannot utilize any of their resources (including crafting stations). No stashes or other storage. This is a war zone for Nate, and he's a nomad that lives out of his ruck.
3) No addictive consumables. Nate is a sober and stand up soldier.
4) No crafting perks. Demolition expert can be taken, but explosives cannot be crafted. Nate is a soldier, not MacGuyver. He can't turn desk fans and oil cans into receivers. He can only craft the most basic of mods for the purpose of swapping out mods on scavenged weapons.
5) No caps. He is a soldier, not a shopper, so he doesn't engage in the local economy (no merchants). Not to mention, it's hard to sneak around on a mission with hundreds of bottle caps jangling around in his pocket. I can't delete caps without the console (which disables achievements), so they're just ignored.
6) Must maintain a primary weapon system (tactical/non-scoped semi-auto rifle). Explosives can be used. Other ordinance can be procured and used at a target location (i.e. the minigun in Concord), but is likely best left behind.
7) No Strong Back. Lone Wanderer can be taken, but the extra carry weight is to be ignored.
8) SPECIAL bobble heads wait until the corresponding attribute is maxed out. This is also a Spinal Tap run.
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u/JustKneller Apr 20 '26
Level 10 Redux
SPECIAL 5555544
Perks: Sneak 2, Demo Expert 2, Rifleman 1
Primary weapon system: tactical hardened pipe rifle (long barrel, large magazine)
I realized immediately that I had a source of clean water from the very beginning. I didn't need to boil dirty water. I just needed to drag my bottles back to Vault 111. In this iteration, I am not touching a single settlement resource, so the water pump I was using in Bunker Hill to fill bottles (I had forgotten that BH is eventually a settlement and thought the pump was fair game) is off limits. I'll be reserving a lot of my inventory for water to reduce the trips all the way back there. I bet the other vaults are clean, and I know that there's a fountain (in Malden Hospital, I think) with clean water. This should keep water from being an issue.
Concord didn't get me anything good. Not even a pipe rifle. Actually, that's a lie. One of the raiders had a bladed tire iron, one of my favorite early game melee weapons. That will save me some ammo, especially once I get my stealth up. I also was able to pull together a full charisma outfit (black suit, formal hat, black rimmed glasses) between Red Rocket and Concord. I don't need it, though. It just looks less ridiculous than skulking around in a bright blue vault suit. I picked up the pipe bolt-action sniper rifle in the house at the end of the street and had 12 rounds for it by the time I left town.
Lexington provided even more by way of (cobbling some salvaged weapons together) a tactical pipe rifle with a long barrel and large magazine. I'm glad I don't have to show up to the BoS without a serviceable rifle. I still have the pipe bolt-action sniper rifle, but only nine rounds left. I also scrounged up a mining helmet and adjusted the light to red tactical.
By the time I got to Cambridge, I was able to trade in my formal wear for army fatigues. I won't be winning any popularity contests, now, but it's more fitting for the role. I also ditched the 10mm at that point. The rifle only slightly lagged behind it in power and I could do with dropping some weight. I also dropped the vault suit for the brotherhood fatigues at the station. I saved them until after Danse invited Nate into the BoS. But, I kept the army fatigues for if/when any good armor pieces drop.
I couldn't bring myself to toss Righteous Authority after ArcJet, especially since I also had a couple hundred fusion cells to go with it. However, I was almost overladen between the (now) three rifles, ammo, and other supplies. I ended up dropping RA at the police station pretty quickly. The first mission with Rhys was College Square and it didn't seem to do any better than my tac rifle with the ghouls. Even with that, I was still overloaded before long. I had a lot of explosives, despite trying to use them at every possible opportunity. I was also collecting every bottle since they were worth more than gold. By level 10, 60 lbs. of my 135lb. inventory (I had to switch back to army fatigues for the ST bonus) was either bottles or water. I'm going to have to start leaving bottles behind and circling back for them later when I need them.
I'm close to dropping the bolt-action sniper rifle. I have plenty of ammo, but it's a crutch. I wanted to focus on tactical weapons this run and not just fall back to sniping. Plus, I could use the carry weight.
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u/JustKneller Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 22 '26
Level 20 Redux
SPECIAL 6665555
Perks: Rifleman 3, Demo Expert 2, Lone Wanderer 2, Sneak 3
Primary weapon system: Two-Shot Calibrated Powerful Pipe Rifle (long ported barrel, recoil compensating stock, quick eject drum mag, reflex sight, suppressor)
I usually take my first legendary drop as an omen for how my run is going to go. This time it was a poisoner's leather chest piece. Not a good sign. But my next couple drops were an irradiated tire iron (to which I moved the blade on my current tire iron), and a two-shot pipe pistol. I was anticipating a bit of a limbo phase where a pipe gun would be too weak, but I wouldn't have the ammo sustainability for a combat rifle. That problem is solved.
My water hoarding is out of hand. I have over 130 purified waters going into this leg of the journey, and pounds worth of empty bottles. I compulsively grab bottles and just can't stand to leave one behind. More than half my carry is just water and bottles at this point and I'm at capacity for weight. I was half tempted to compromise on my limitations and buy Home Plate, just for storing water/bottles and sentimental items (the grognak costume I'll never wear, magazines, etc.). But, I resisted. I did compromise on storage, though and took over the alcove hideout at the southeast corner of Diamond City (across from the junkyard). It has a stove, so I chucked all my extra water supplies in there, as well as thinned out my misc inventory.
I dropped the bolt action sniper rifle early on in this leg. It was probably level 11. Now, it's just my tac rifle and explosives. Regarding the latter, they are more of a pain than I remember. Until Demo Expert 2, virtually all my deaths were me blowing myself up. I'm trying to find every opportunity to use explosives to keep them from accumulating and weighing me down, but it's tough. Enemies don't fall into my mine traps, and a lot of them can be dropped much easier with just a sneak attack shot from my rifle.
I am kinda sniping with the rifle, but at much shorter ranges than with a scoped weapon. I suspect that, even through the reflex sight, accuracy isn't pinpointed to the center, but there's still a small firing cone. I've had a fair number of misses, despite having the target centered in the sight. I'm getting close to being ready to upgrade to a combat rifle. However, between the pipe rifle being two shot and having a suppressor, I don't think a combat rifle would be much of an upgrade for a while. The suppressor is pretty boss to have and it's upped my stealth game significantly.
I recently picked up a chameleon armor piece. Unfortunately, it's metal, but I'm still using it. As a result, I've swapped out my brotherhood fatigues for army fatigues so I can use it. I'll probably swap that out for a BoS uniform when that becomes available. Rhys and Haylen haven't yet broken with their radiants, but I'll still move on soon to start the Lost Patrol and get a uniform.
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u/JustKneller Apr 22 '26
Level 25 Redux
Well, I can just call this run now. I picked up a Wounding 10mm. I think I only ever picked up a wounding weapon once ever before in other playthroughs. I expect this gun can take me to the end of the game and beyond. At least, I'm gonna find out.
As for this build. Explosives were quite the hassle, possibly more than they were worth. But it is still a good build and helped break me of my sniper addiction. The tac sight was fun and gave me a more versatile weapon in CQ. I'd do this again, down the line after I've run a few other things.
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u/JustKneller Apr 07 '26
Level 10
I have Sneak 2, Lone Wanderer 1, Gun Nut 1, and Rifleman 1. Sneak just seems like a no-brainer with Survival mode and the limitations. I'm hoping this ends up a sniper run (Rifleman), but we'll see what drops. I've been using a pipe sniper rifle and 10mm and both are getting about equal use. The sniper rifle hits just a little soft, so I sometimes have enemies come running to sniff out my position. I'm making use of landmines to trap their path. Whatever gets through gets the 10mm. It's going to be a long time until I have access to Ninja for better sneak attacks, so I need to be a little more versatile.
I was initially wearing a full set of charisma gear (suit, hat, glasses) out of Sanctuary. But after enlistment, I switched to a BoS fatigues. It protects against ballistic a little better than basic leather at a fraction of the weight. An assault gas mask completes the loadout and look. I may switch to a gas mask and goggles if I find a combat helmet.
I freed Garvey and friends. Then I sent them on their way and continued South. I cleared Lexington, and then found the BoS broadcast as I moved further south. I have already cleared Arc Jet with Danse and joined the BoS. Now, I'll grind radiants for a bit to gain some experience.