Taking Independence

Taking Independence is a Minutemen main quest and achievement/trophy in Fallout 4.

Detailed walkthrough
Once you have established approximately four settlements, including Sanctuary Hills, for the Minutemen, talk to Preston Garvey. He'll tell you about the Castle, the former headquarters of the Minutemen, and discuss his desire to retake the building to show that the Minutemen are back. Offer to help, and he'll tell you to meet him outside the Castle.

If attempting this quest at a lower level, it is strongly recommended that you bring power armor and at least one heavy weapon. It may also be worthwhile to bring the parts for two medium power generators.

The hike to the Castle will take you through South Boston and past a number of both raiders and super mutants in equal measure. Garvey is waiting for you in a destroyed Sullivan's west of the Castle with three other Minutemen. Proceeding to the Castle before meeting Garvey will likely prove challenging to lower-level characters, as it is crawling with mirelurks and has some nasty surprises in wait. Additionally, the Sullivan's has a bunch of equipment on the counter that may be useful--including land mines.

Talk to Garvey, and he'll discuss your options. The three Minutemen will offer various potential plans of attack: a direct assault into the courtyard via the breached northwest wall, a pincer through the breach and the main gate to the south, or setting up a firing line outside the northwest breach and drawing the lurks out to your guns. Pick whichever suits your preference, and then wait for the Minutemen to move into position. When all's in order, launch the attack.

There are about ten mirelurks of varying strength inside the Castle. Aim for their soft undersides, as chipping away at their shells is a sure way to just irritate them and get yourself clawed. Once they're all dead, Garvey and the Minutemen will observe the egg clutches laying around--if they're not cleared out the mirelurks will keep coming back.

Approaching the egg clutches will cause several of them to hatch mirelurk hatchlings. Either handle them as they come or take out the clutches from a distance with explosives--this will deny you those tasty mirelurk eggs, however, which make a fantastic omelette among other things.

It is strongly recommended that before you begin clearing them out in earnest, you lay some mines on the breach in the southwest wall--not the one you came in on, the other almost-destroyed one. If you don't have a heavy weapon, head to the easternmost room in the fort--there's a missile launcher and some ammo on a table in there. There's also a flamer kicking around, but Preston is likely to requisition that.

The reason for all this will quickly become obvious. After you've destroyed a few clutches, the entire Castle will shake, and a Mirelurk Queen will emerge from the lagoon--the "sea monster" that destroyed the Castle in the past. She'll make her way through the southwest breach and into the Castle courtyard, at which point she'll start killing anything she can reach--Preston and one of the Minutemen are essential, but two of them aren't. Try to keep a moderate distance--too close and she'll tear you to shreds, but too far and she'll spit acid at you with serious effectiveness. She is not to be underestimated, but keep up the fire and keep her attention away from your squishy allies, and she'll go down.

Once the Queen is dead, clear out the remainder of the egg clutches. After they're all gone Preston will tell you about Radio Freedom, and task you with getting it up and running. This requires ten power all on its lonesome--either one large or two medium generators will do the trick. Once Radio Freedom is powered, talk to Preston again to complete the quest.

Behind the scenes

 * This quest's name is a reference to the original name of the location, Fort Independence.
 * The presence of mirelurks at the Castle may be an allusion to the lobsterbacks - a slang term for the Redcoat infantry that the Minutemen fought during the American Revolutionary War. This could also be supported by the presence of a mirelurk queen, symbolizing the British monarch.

Bugs
Für die Freiheit Штурм Форт-Индепенденс Штурм Форт-Індепенденс