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The men folk would say good old-fashion elbow grease keeps Covenant as the prettiest place in the Commonwealth, but between you and me, I think shrewd trading may play a big part.— Penny Fitzgerald

Covenant is a location and possible Commonwealth settlement in 2287.

Background[]

A small village boasting pre-War architecture founded by a group of settlers who've made the site their home. The friendly inhabitants of the settlement are responsible for the overall pristine condition of the town's infrastructure. They attempt to attract traders to the settlement to keep it running and allow it to grow.[Non-game 1]

Sometime following the Broken Mask incident, Doctor Roslyn Chambers and her scientific team arrived at Covenant with the intention to turn the settlement into a refuge for people who have suffered at the hands of the Institute's synths.[1][2][3] She convinced the residents of the town to help with her work and subsequently set up a lab with her personnel inside a utility area in the nearby sewers, locally known as the Compound. From there, Chambers and her scientists attempt to discover and flush out the secret Institute agents widely feared and despised by the inhabitants of the Commonwealth.[4]

Following the doctor's arrival, the town of Covenant's reputation and splendor were tainted by the development of a strong anti-synth sentiment within the community, and it became a trap for outsiders unlucky enough to become part of Chambers' experiments.

The settlers support the Compound's mission of validating a psychological assessment that is meant to identify synths.[5] This assessment is called the SAFE test and is the focus of a continuous experiment whereby visitors to Covenant are screened and are possibly later kidnapped, interrogated, and killed in order to discover how effective the SAFE test is at identifying synths. Those who the SAFE test designates "probable synths" are also subject to interrogation and torture in an attempt to further refine their assessment.[6]

Any belongings, goods, or junk left behind by kidnapped travelers are looted by Dr. Chambers' men and turned over to Penny for sale. Despite these ill-gotten gains, the low prices deliberately set in order to attract travelers mean her shop is unable to make an overall profit. As a result, the town has a deficit of 250 caps.[7]

Layout[]

Covenant is a small settlement along the eastern shore of Mystic Lake, inhabited by nine people, one visitor, a Mister Handy named Deezer and a house cat named Dora. There is a large wall surrounding the whole settlement with nine heavy machine gun turrets on small wooden platforms. Inside the wall are four houses and a small garden. The houses are intact as if they had barely been touched by the Great War. The Sole Survivor may comment on this by saying that all the buildings look almost pre-War.

There is a workbench in a shack near the garden. Three of the buildings will be locked at various times, but the inhabitants will occasionally go in and out the doors of every building and they can then be followed without needing to resort to lockpicking. They do not leave the room while they are aware the Sole Survivor is inside, but they may still close the door behind them and lock the Sole Survivor in if the player character is hidden.

The guesthouse (last house on the left when entering from the main gate) contains a bed that can be freely used by the player. The containers in this house can be used for storage without the items becoming owned by the settlement and the items in this house can be freely taken even if one is not allied to the settlement. There are a few other unowned junk items up for grabs, mostly around the backs and sides of the houses, and some near the workshop. The cabinet under the toolbox in the workshop shack can also be freely used as a container. There is a farm plot with 7 corn, 5 tato, and several mutfruit (including an owned wild mutfruit), which are cultivated by the settlers and will respawn. Apart from the "owned" wild mutfruit these can be freely harvested by the player. There is a water pump beside the main gate.

Inhabitants[]

Notable loot[]

  • Justice - A unique combat shotgun that can be bought from Penny Fitzgerald.
  • Destroyer's helmet - Also sold by Penny.
  • Penny's ledger note - Found on the safe in Penny's shop.
  • Covenant shop key - Carried by Penny and Patricia Montgomery, and found inside Penny's cash register.
  • SAFE report - Found on the desk in the office building.
  • Covenant office key - Carried by Jacob Orden and Brian Fitzgerald, and found in a desk inside the office.
  • Raider report and another copy of the SAFE report - Found in a wall/floor safe hidden behind a crate in the office building.
  • Two Covenant reminder notes - One in the first house on the left, the other in a bin at Penny Fitzgerald's place. Will prompt the Sole Survivor to make a comment.
  • Covenant house key - Carried by most inhabitants, and found on Jacob's nightstand next to his bed.
  • Jacob's password - A note in his house, on the nightstand next to his bed. Gives access to his office terminal.
  • Map to Compound - Carried by Ted Huntley.
  • Join the Railroad holotape - Found in the trash can next to the door in the house with the three beds and radio.
  • Caravan details - Given to the player character by Honest Dan during Human Error.
  • An overdue book - Found in a toilet behind the shop.
  • A leveled suit of power armor - Found northwest of Covenant in the lake near the tail of the crashed Vertibird.

Related quest[]

Notes[]

  • It is possible to settle in Covenant if the player completes the Human Error side quest.
    • If the Sole Survivor sides against the Compound then returns after completion, it will initiate a battle with the residents and settlers, after which it is possible to use the workshop. In order to take the settlement, everyone must be killed, except Dora and Deezer.
    • If the Sole Survivor decides to side with Covenant and completes the quest with dialogue options, then the town will allow the Sole Survivor to join without any conflict. Speak to Jacob Orden to obtain access to the workshop.
      • Only Huntley and the generic settlers can be assigned to tasks.
      • Dr. Patricia will show as assigned as a doctor, but cannot be reassigned.
      • Talia, Swanson and Dr. Patricia can not be traded with. Penny can only be traded with outside of store hours (as is normal for shop keeper NPCs), including on her lunch break in the office. Dr. Patricia can not be traded with even out of hours; she is effectively on duty as a doctor 24 hours a day.
      • After allying with the settlement, new dialogue will be heard from the residents, in which they are much more open about Covenant's activities and goals.
      • Defense rating will be zero unless additional defenses are built.
      • There is insufficient food (8 vs 9 needed) and water (3 vs 9 needed) for the existing population.
      • Items, objects, containers and beds (except the lone wild mutfruit) will all show as green - not considered owned - and can be freely taken or used, provided there has been no hostile action with the Compound.
      • Both Orden and Penny will state the shop will now offer 'special deals' to the player character. It is unclear if this is actually the case.
      • From this point on, Compound residents including Dr. Chambers can be openly killed without affecting relations with Covenant.
        • Hostility to the Compound will revert object and item ownership to their initial states as when first entering Covenant.
        • Hostility to the Compound may affect interactions between Covenant turrets and dismissed companions - see Bugs.
  • It is not possible to claim Covenant as a raider outpost without the use of console commands.
  • Nick Valentine, Preston Garvey, Piper Wright, Curie, Deacon and John Hancock disapprove if they are accompanying the player character when they enter Covenant for the first time after passing the SAFE test. Robert MacCready, Cait and Strong will approve of doing so.
  • Even though Curie states: "What a pleasant little place, we should go in yes?" she dislikes actually entering the town.
  • It is possible for Covenant to be a randomly selected settlement for the Feeding the Troops mission if Human Error has already been completed and become an allied settlement. Taking the crops by any means will result in a loss of allied settlement status. This includes access to the workshop and all allied perks.
  • The robot Deezer will not become hostile unless it is individually attacked or damaged.
  • Although they will fire on enemies, the turrets on the walls are not considered a part of the settlement, cannot be moved and do not contribute any defense points to it.
  • One can use the Build screen to store all stealable items in the workshop and thereafter they will no longer be stolen items.
  • There is a wild mutfruit plant in a corner of the small garden which remains "owned" even after making Covenant an allied settlement. Being seen while harvesting the crops in the garden and picking from this plant will result in all the settlers becoming hostile.
  • It is possible to encounter Amelia Stockton before discovering Covenant or meeting Old Man Stockton. If one does this and decides to free her, the related quest step from Human Error will show as having been completed and the step to talk to Old Man Stockton will be presented, but the player will not be given the Human Error quest, and everyone in Covenant will react to the player character as if encountering them for the first time. This will allow the player to start the Human Error quest from the beginning and will not immediately register the completed steps. The player will not have the option to inform Honest Dan that they have already located and rescued Amelia Stockton upon meeting him. It is currently unknown how the residents of Covenant will react if the player chooses not to free Amelia Stockton or if the associated quest step will automatically complete itself upon receipt.
  • With the Vault-Tec Workshop add-on, building a Vault-Tec Population Management System allows one to assign a settler as a doctor without building a clinic store.
  • Entering Covenant by jumping over the fence results in all settlers turning hostile to the player.
  • The middle bed of the three beds in the guest house is unowned and can be slept in without being allied to the settlement.
  • A small number of items around the settlement are marked as unowned, including Talia's tools and other items near the workbench, many items in the back alleys and along the outer edges of the walls, and most items in the guest house.
  • There are G.O.A.T. posters with people in Vault 101 jumpsuits in Covenant.
  • Inside one of the houses, where Jacob Orden often can be found, there is a small-sized radio (almost half of a normal-sized radio).
  • Dora, Deezer, Honest Dan, and Dr. Patricia display as green (friendly) in V.A.T.S. (unless attacked). Most other residents may frequently display as red (hostile) even though they do not attack.

Companion comments[]

  • When at this location companions make comments, which are activated at the gate exterior.
Location comments
Character Comment
Cait "This place kind of reminds me of home... it's just missin' the abusive parents and the years of psychological torment."
Codsworth "This place is actually quite quaint. Minus the prison walls of course!"
Curie "Oh, what a pleasant little place. We should go in, yes?"
Danse "Looks suspiciously like a prison camp. We should proceed with caution."
Deacon "Covenant. For a new settlement, it's looking pretty good. I've been meaning to pay a visit."
John Hancock "What kinda place you gotta take a test to enter?"
Nick Valentine "Covenant. Never did feel terribly welcome here."
Piper Wright "Always thought something was a bit... off, about Covenant. I mean, what good's an entry exam against Raiders?"
Preston Garvey "This place seems to be doing all right on it's own. Makes you wonder what kind of deals they've made."
Robert MacCready "If paranoia started to fall like rain, this place would need to build an ark."
X6-88 "This is the place with the so-called synth detector test. That's almost funny."

Appearances[]

Covenant appears only in Fallout 4.

Bugs[]

Covenant is a particularly buggy location, in many cases due to internal logic errors in how the settlement, and its related quests, were designed and coded.

  • PCPC If the game does not completely load upon approaching Covenant and the player character walks through the doorway before the doors load in, the town will be hostile.[verified]
  • PCPC After completing the quest by killing Dr. Roslyn Chambers while Honest Dan is with the player character, one can repeatedly receive the reward of 300 caps by walking away and restarting the dialogue with him. [verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One If one first discovers Covenant after completing Nuclear Family or any variant of The Nuclear Option, the settlement will act as if the player character has already completed the "SAFE" test and welcomes them with open arms. Any quests that are associated with Covenant are not able to be completed. [verified]
  • Playstation 4Playstation 4 When approaching Covenant for the first time, if the Sole Survivor speaks with Swanson and agrees to take the test they will be asked to take a seat. If the player character does not sit down straight away, once they return to the seat, it is possible Swanson will not be present in his normal position seated at the desk. If the player character then sits down the SAFE Test will begin but because Swanson is not present and one will hear him ask the first question but will not be able to answer, leaving the player character stuck in the chair.[verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One Having Tesla coils installed in a suit of power armor will randomly zap NPCs in the town, causing them to turn aggressive. It can happen during conversations. [verified]
    • The reason for this is that resident NPCs are frequently (but randomly) flagged as hostile. This can be seen in VATS. Despite being flagged as hostile they are not aggressive to the player character unless attacked.
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One If the original inhabitants of Covenant have been killed, any remaining turrets in Covenant will be hostile towards new turrets, the player character and hostiles. [verified]
    • PCPC The turrets can be removed permanently by selecting them with the console opened, using disable and then markfordelete. The latter command permanently removes the selected object from the game for this savegame, so care should be taken that the turret was in fact selected.
    • The smoking ruins can also be removed in console by selecting them and then using disable and then markfordelete. Therefore it might not be necessary to remove the original turrets until they are actually destroyed. The platform remains to place a newly constructed turret.
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One After completing the Human Error quest and acquiring Covenant as a settlement, all of the items and beds inside will still be marked as owned, making all settlers immediately hostile if anything is taken. This happens regardless of which path is taken in the quest. If the settlers become hostile, the town happiness rating will quickly erode to zero. Even new settlers summoned by a recruitment beacon after killing all the old settlers will arrive already hostile. [verified]
    • These items may be picked up by entering workshop mode and then selecting the "Store" option. Items will be transferred to the workbench and will not be marked as stolen. This also works for containers, both locked and unlocked.
    • The beds may be removed by placing a floor, moving the bed onto the floor and then scrapping the floor. [verified]
    • PCPC On PC, ownership of these items can manually be transferred by selecting each item individually and then using command setownership. This does not work for beds, but clearownership does.
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One The corpses of Covenant residents never disappear and periodically respawn their inventory. [verified]
  • Playstation 4Playstation 4 Covenant may un-ally itself, meaning the workshop and its contents become inaccessible, supply lines are voided and settlers can no longer be interacted with. Companions sent to Covenant may disappear. [verified]
  • PCPC Xbox OneXbox One If the player character searches Stockton's Caravan before they get the lemonade from Deezer, they will not be able to progress the story through Honest Dan. [verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 The root cause of some of the turret problems is that the Covenant turrets are incorrectly assigned to the Compound faction, CovenantHQSecurityFaction, not to the Covenant settlement faction, CovenantFaction. This means when the player character and companions (including Honest Dan) return to Covenant from fighting in the Compound, the turrets will be hostile to the them even if they sided with Chambers in the end. If the turrets target the player character, Covenant residents who have the "helps allies" trait will also attack them, and if one fights back that will trigger hostility of all Covenant residents (except Deezer and Dora). [verified]
    • Due to this bug, if one makes no decision in the dialogue with Dr. Chambers (avoiding or escaping the dialogue), Honest Dan will join the player character next time they go to Covenant and will immediately attack the turrets, usually triggering an all out battle.
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 If a companion is dismissed at Covenant, after having been in conflict with the Compound, the turrets and the companion will fight until the turrets are destroyed. Swanson will join in as he "helps allies" and is allied to the turret's faction (though not part of it himself). If Swanson is attacked, the whole town will join in. Neither the companion nor Swanson can be permanently killed, and will constantly get up in this battle.[verified]
  • Playstation 4Playstation 4 If a radiant quest of the "Defend (Location Name)" type occurs at Covenant, the NPC audio dialogs for the settlers may not play. Furthermore it may be impossible to turn the quest in to Jacob Orden. [verified]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. The Sole Survivor: "What happened to you?"
    Roslyn Chambers: "In Diamond City, a lifetime ago, my parents and eight others were massacred by someone. At first we thought the maniac was human. But that was the day we learned of the Institute's latest creations. The synths. As long as the Institute walks invisibly amongst us, they strike without warning and control us from the shadows."
    (Roslyn Chambers' dialogue)
  2. The Sole Survivor: "There's nothing you can say that can excuse what I've seen here."
    Roslyn Chambers: "Everything we've done has been to stop the suffering of more innocents at the hands of the Institute and their synth menace."
    (Roslyn Chambers' dialogue)
  3. Roslyn Chambers: "Covenant is many things. A refuge for the broken people left in the wake of the Institute's rampages. A place of safety and healing. But most importantly it is our one chance to end this age of paranoia."
    (Roslyn Chambers' dialogue)
  4. Roslyn Chambers: "I've dedicated my life to devising a test to detect these hidden synths.To root them out, so they can be extinguished. Isn't that a goal worth fighting for?"
    (Roslyn Chamber's dialogue)
  5. Roslyn Chambers: "A living synth is indistinguishable from a human by any medical test yet devised. But, it turns out, psychology can detect a difference. Enter the SAFE test. The test is in its infancy, but through sacrifice and perseverance our success rate is improving."
    (Roslyn Chambers' dialogue)
  6. The Sole Survivor: "But your methods are barbaric. It's torture."
    Roslyn Chambers: "To improve the SAFE test intense psychological pressure must be applied to our test subjects. It is distasteful but necessary."
    (Roslyn Chambers' dialogue)
  7. Compound terminal entries; terminal, RE: Dr. Rogers' rant

Non-game

  1. Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Collector's Edition p. 290: "[2.25] COVENANT
    Covenant is an impressively defended and seemingly prosperous community of settlers. The people are friendly, the amenities are quaint, and it appears to be safe. All you have to do is pass a simple test to enter. Many of the settlers at this location have keys to their own houses and the office establishments. The Covenant also have commandeered a sewer tunnel area across the lake to the west, just below a lake lookout east of Mystic Pines. To progress farther into the Covenant's secret headquarters, open the door from the initial chamber (Master) or use the compound key that Manny or one of the compound guards is carrying."
    (Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Map)
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