How to create epic AI battles in Fallout 4

If you're anything like me, you saw this video, showing an AI skirmish between 1,000 Deathclaws and 100 Brotherhood of Steel Knights and thought, "okay, but what if..." There are many different AI baddies in Fallout 4, and most of them hate each other just as much as they hate you. The best thing to do, then—given that you're a temporally displaced badass in a harsh and unforgiving world—is to make them fight for your amusement.

Here's how to do that.

It's pretty easy, but you'll need a few console commands. You'll also need a battleground. I picked the Red Rocket outside of Sanctuary Hill. It's deserted, and it's a settlement—meaning you can build a viewing station from which to free-cam about the place without attracting the AI's attention.

Here are the two most important console commands for forcing the AI to do your bidding:

• tai: Toggle AI
• tcai: Toggle combat AI

The second one really is super-important. Without it, your combatants will instantly demolish each other before you've had a chance to make it a fair fight. AI can be toggled individually, but it's easier to globally disable both. Congratulations, you've made the Commonwealth a utopia of peaceful manikins. You win Fallout.

Also, while you're messing about in the console, you should do this:

• tgm: Toggle God mode

Not only does it ensure you won't accidentally be caught up in the imminent eruption of violence, it also disables Workshop resource costs and gives unlimited carry weight. All in all, it's pretty handy.

Now to place some guys. To do this, stand where you want your combatants to appear and use the following command:

• placeatme

You can find IDs in game, through the help command. I've always found it easier to grab them from a wiki.

For this first test, I'll be pitting five Super Mutant Behemoths ("placeatme 000bb7dd 5") against 20 Raider Wasters ("placeatme 000f757b 20"). All I need to do is turn on "tai" and "tcai", and...

...Oh god, it's a massacre.

The raiders need some help, clearly. The problem, it seems, is that they're all carrying crappy pistols, while the Behemoths have fire hydrants that can pummel them into chunks. What if all the raiders had Fat Man missile launchers?

First, I load myself up with Fat Men and Mini Nukes, using:

• player.additem

Then, I open the console, click on a raider, and type:

• openactorcontainer 1

This opens up their inventory in the container window—that window you get when you loot, trade or store items. Through this, I can remove a raider's weapon, and replace it with a Fat Man and three nukes. Then, I hit 'T' over the Fat Man to equip it for that raider. Repeat for all 20 raiders, and I've got the best armed bandits this side of Boston.

But can they tackle the Super Mutants?

That's a yes.

Sidenote: what's going on with that sword guy. I gave him a sword because I thought the raiders were lacking any melee potential. He's holding it like a gun. Demonstrable proof of a failing post-civilization education system, if I ever saw one.

This isn't dramatic at all. Maybe the raiders would benefit from an extra challenge? The sort of challenge offered by, let's say, "placeatme 0001db4c 50"? Or, in layman's terms:

50 Deathclaws.

I was expecting a lot from this, but, well, see for yourself.

It's clear that the melee classes have a range problem. They can't get close enough to the raiders, because the raiders have 60 miniature nukes. I'm not sure why I didn't spot this sooner, really.

My solution?

At which point the game crashed.

If you can't be bothered to create your own crazy battles, suggest some matchups in the comments and I'll attempt to recreate them for a future post. For more Fallout 4, click this link right here.