Drones or Cans?

[AnarchyIsFun]

I say Drones and if you are a can you are probably a statist.

[TΛPETRVE]

You definitely need to play both questlines, though. The bait-and-switch is glorious.

[Tygrende]

if you are a can you are probably a statist.

Nope, I just don't find the idea of letting a small community die to bandits very appealing.

There is not single instance of Drones actually helping anyone but themselves. They would rather see people killed/eaten by bandits or kill civilians than any kind of unification, even if said unification saves lives.

There's anarchism, and then there's fanaticism.

[TΛPETRVE]

And so does Protectorate. Don't forget that they are literally Nazis; Underrail is nothing but a big ant farm for them, and the populace is fodder to exploit. They have a good PR agency, and there are folks in their ranks who have genuinely good intentions, but those are only serving as unwitting pawns for the BioCorp remnants who are pulling the strings.

Also, the Drones are most certainly not flawless; while Trenton has a clear set of ideals, he's in way over his head when it comes to keeping the others in check (which of course is always a bit of an issue in a system that is supposed to have no stipulated authority ). And it's quite safe to assume that Alvin Bate, being a Protectorate spy, is deliberately recruiting gangbangers and other idiots into the ranks of the Drones to morally bankrupt them.

[Tygrende]

Don't forget that they are literally Nazis;

Last I checked they were not trying to push any supremacy agendas (Fraser being the only one that openly hates southerners, while everyone in charge doesn't care as long as you get the job done) or make concentration camps for them.

But they do protect small stations from bandits, give away food to the poor at Junkyard and made North Underrail into a bandit-free land where people don't face a possiblity of death everyday and have enough time to care about hygiene. The only questionable things they did are the orders to kill civilians given by a few assholes, and if you do things right you can make them investigate the matter. Gasing the drones was not questionable at all since you don't negotiate with terrorists that support bandits, kill civilians and do chemical attacks on a regular basis.

They are expansionist that's for sure, but I'd rather take a mix of bad/good than all bad.

[ShadowRun]

And presenting alternatives that are internally consistent, engaging and credible makes the whole experience more immersive. The player can appreciate opposing perspectives, or they can be close-minded and reject certain ideologies outright, or they can love everything about a particular outlook that harmonises with their own paradigm. A lot of thought and preparation has gone into this - and it shows in depth.

[AnarchyIsFun]

Oh man i gotta stop reading this thread until i finish the game haha

[AnarchyIsFun]

As for the protectorate "protecting" anyone, whats the difference between a government and a gang? Very little...

[Sykar]

As for the protectorate "protecting" anyone, whats the difference between a government and a gang? Very little...

From a democratic government perspective, the leading officials are subject to the law, the division of power limits said power and you are not guaranteed your position. So yeah, there are huge differences in fact considering that for most gangs the only law that counts is whatever the boss deems fit and he can do what he wants regardless.

As to the topic, Drones, they are the lesser of two evils and their actions are obviously undercut by Bates. Protectorate are fascists if only half of what Gorsky says is true and I see no reason to doubt it. Considering the methods they employ, Cans are even worse than the Nazis, essentially gassing the Drones but whereas the Nazis at least let their prisoners die, the Cans condemn them to immeasurable life long suffering.
Fuck the Protectorate, no way I will ever play for them again. I wish this game would give me an option to switch sides or leave the conflict entirely besides merely ignoring whatever quest I am on at the moment.

[Trashos]

The protectorate vs free drones dilemma and questlines are some of the best moments in the game. I was really impressed. The game shows the good and the bad for both. It is very balanced (and, dare I say, realistic). At no point did I think that I am being preached to by the developers. What a breath of fresh air.

(I am somewhere in the middle myself. Have tried both questlines. Usually, but not always, join the Protectorate. I would probably switch sides once the Protectorate is better established, to restore some balance.)

[Quidam Craft]

Since I can't see myself in either side, both have flaws (one being too much expantionist, the other too much anarchist) that made them hard to really join. I took an oportunist decision.

I joined the free drones, so that I can reduce the influence of the protectorate, and kill the chemical assault unit (which will even be good on long term for the protectorate). And then, wipe the free drones from the underrail.

I think that's the best possible outcome for the Underrail.

[STEN]

It's a no-brainer. There's only 1 viable option in longrun - protectorate, only orgnaised group can survive in such conditions (as Underrail lifesupport system requires constant working of qualified workers and engineers.... I can explain more but nobody cares about serious things here). Some called them Nazi but i don't remember any ingame sources about social structure of Protectorate to support such claims.

Drones, anarchists, isolationists and other such idiots will die out in case of  their own victory.

[harperfan7]

Free Drones. 

Everybody calls them anarchists.  Their symbol is the anarchist symbol, and yet they only seem to preach that the protectorate is bad, not that any kind of government is bad.  If you talk to them, they all seem like at least decent people; they're very friendly and caring.  Contrast that with the protectorate, who range from stern to psychopathic, and for the non-military ones from depressed to just-happy-to-have-a-safe-job.  Some of the bad things they are known for sure sound like the doing of the CAU (like gassing the train that doctor arrived on) for false flag purposes.  The game has to go out of it's way to make them sound bad:  anarchist symbols, the train quest, the envoy quest, the bad rail crossing ending.

If you remove Malek, the CAU, and whichever types gave Holloway his intel (and that's just what we know of from the protectorate side; the free drones and gorsky have even worse things to say), then you'd have a decently good argument for the protectorate.  As it stands, they're a straight up bad-guy empire, and that's coming from someone who thinks the nazis were the good guys in real life.  Another thing to think about is this:  if the free drones can organize to fight the protectorate, then they could handle the iron heads instead if there were no protectorate, no big military needed.

Final word:  I'd rather deal with raiders than a big empire military lead by psychopaths.

[GabrielFlood]

and that's coming from someone who thinks the nazis were the good guys in real life.

...I sincerely hope that I have misread/misunderstood something in this statement, neighbor.

[Suall1993]

The different things are related with them and it is depend on your choice to use it Drone can work on various work but Cans can use on less work.