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| Fallout 4 created by Bethesda Game Studios. Images used for educational purposes only. |
- Once you’ve retrieved the Courser Chip and gained this quest you’ll be directed to one of two places, depending on what side quests you’ve currently completed:
- If you’ve never heard of the Railroad before, you’ll be directed back to the Memory Den. Here you’ll hear about the Railroad, and have to find a way to contact them via the quest The Freedom Trail. More details on meeting the Railroad can be found in this article.
- If you’ve already met and joined the Railroad you’ll be sent straight to Railroad HQ. Easy peasy.
- Speak to Desdemona. She’ll lead you to Tinker Tom. Hand the Courser Chip over and, after some rambling, he’ll give you a Courser Chip Data Holotape.
- Hop back to Rocky Cave in the Glowing Sea and give the Holotape to Virgil. He’ll ask you a few questions, hand over the Signal Interceptor Plans, and tell you to get help to build the Signal Interceptor.
Choosing a Faction
Up to this point in Fallout 4 it has been entirely possible to completely ignore the three prominent factions - the Minutemen, the Brotherhood of Steel, and the Railroad - who battle for ideological control of the Commonwealth. (Well, okay, the Railroad hides, but… shhh.) This ended with finding the Railroad, however, and at this point you kinda need to pick one of the three to help you with building the Signal Interceptor. This necessitates a bit of work for each:
- If you want to side with the Minutemen you first need to save them in Concord. Complete their quest lines up until you complete Taking Independence, then speak to Preston Garvey to get the ball rolling.
- If you want to side with the Brotherhood of Steel you need to help them fend off Ghouls at the Cambridge Police Station. Complete Call to Arms, board the Prydwen, explore it, complete the associated quests, and finish up with Show No Mercy. After this Elder Maxsom will be ready to talk.
- If you want to side with the Railroad you just need to speak to Desdemona, as you needed the Railroad’s help to get this far anyway.
(Could someone verify these lead-up quests for me? I’m pretty sure they’re correct, but it’s hard to tell, given how non-linear Fallout 4 can be. Thanks.)
In each case you’ll then be paired with the faction’s de facto scientist dude - Sturges, Proctor Ingram, or Tinker Tom - in creating the Signal Interceptor. This also closes off help from the other two factions, so keep that in mind.
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| The Signal Interceptor in Fallout 4. This thing is a pain in the ass to make. Enjoy! |
Building the Signal Interceptor
This building project is different from others you may have embarked upon previously, as it requires you to construct the Signal Interceptor in stages. Each stage requires a specific amount of basic resources, just like any other construction project, though they’re usually not the most basic of the basic. Teleporters ain’t made out of wood, y’know.
You can build the Signal Interceptor in any of your settlements. That said, you should choose an area with lots of flat space to expand your work. You can fiddle with the parts after the fact, but choosing a wide open area from the start is wise. Sanctuary is one of the better places to do this - not only is it one of the larger areas where you can build already, it has a number of flat concrete foundations where houses once stood which are more than big enough for the Signal Interceptor.
The parts of the Signal Interceptor are as follows:
- Stabilized Reflector Platform. The first piece requires ten Aluminum, three Circuitry, and five Steel. Aluminum can be crafted out of cans; Circuitry is most often found by destroying Turrets, though you can also find it laying around in areas full of computing equipment; and Steel is freaking everywhere. Once you build the Platform your chosen scientist will move to the build site, which makes further requests for materials easier to process.
- Console. The second piece requires two Rubber, three Copper, five Steel, and, optionally, a Biometric Scanner. Rubber is available by breaking down tires, or, lacking that, fridges; Copper is available from small items like fuses, light bulbs, and lamps; Steel you already know. The optional Biometric Scanner can be found in one of the hospitals around the Commonwealth. There’s one such hospital in the Medford Memorial Hospital, to the far east of Sanctuary. They also seem to be fairly common anywhere doctor offices are found. That said, Trashcan Carla seems to carry Scanners with fair regularity, as do higher level vendors in your own settlements. Perhaps the easiest way to find one is to check the Turrets atop Fort Hagen; several of them contain Scanners.
- Relay Dish. The third piece requires three Copper, three Steel, six Cloth, three Gold, and, optionally, a Sensor Module. Cloth is found by breaking down old clothing items; Gold is gleaned from anything that’s gold-plated, such as Watches or Lighters. You can find these items at random in abandoned stores, but they’re easier to buy from vendors. Sensor Modules are found at telecom sites, namely anywhere that does radio broadcasts; the USAF Satellite Station Olivia has one in its Intel Room near the entrance, and there’s another on the third floor of Hubris Comics. Perhaps the easiest one to grab is in a locker on the Prydwen, though you need to be a member of the Brotherhood of Steel to grab it.
- Molecular Beam Emitter. The final piece requires two Rubber, ten Steel, five Copper, three Circuitry, and, optionally, one Military-Grade Circuitry. The Military-Grade Circuitry can be found on military bases, but the easiest one to find by far is at the Robotics Disposal Ground to the east of Sanctuary. There are two sitting inside the bunker right at the entrance.
Each of the optional items in this setup brings with it a location where you can find the items. The locations suggested above are probably the easiest places you’ll track them down, though following the map’s suggestions doesn’t hurt either.
Once you’ve slotted the pieces together - the Beam Emitter fits over the Reflector Platform while the other two pieces sit off to the side - you need to set up a connected source of power to operate all four pieces. The complete set requires 27 power, a rather hefty amount. Three Large Generators will do the trick, if you’ve got the smarts to make ‘em. Otherwise, six Medium Generators (or a stupid number of Small Generators - nine?!) will have to do. Be sure to factor the amount of Copper you’ll need to make wiring between your power sources into your calculations.
Talk to your scientist dude after completing the Signal Interceptor and supplying it with power, then speak to him once he’s standing at the Console to confirm you’re ready. Step onto the Platform to trigger the teleportation. You’ll get a last-minute quest from your scientist, then get shot off into the Institute. At last.