Crater Raiders

The Crater Raiders,Lane Platte: "Aside from the Responders, there are the Settlers of Foundation, the Crater Raiders, the Brotherhood of Steel, and the Blue Ridge Caravan Company."(Lane Platte's dialogue)The Coop terminal entries; Keith Cooper's terminal, The Crater Raiders or simply the Raiders, are one of the raider factions in Appalachia, headquartered at the Crater. These re-established Raiders are led by Meg Groberg, originally a member of the Diehards, one of the groups prevalent in the region prior to the Scorched Plague.
==Background==
This group is a re-establishment of one of the original raider gangs of Appalachia, after the original groups were nearly killed off. The group consists primarily of the Diehards. After these Raiders (composed of survivors of the original groups who fled Appalachia and new members picked up along the way) caught wind that people were returning to the land they once claimed for themselves, they and their leader Meg Groberg decided to come back and put a stop to anyone who would take their territory. In their travels they made their way from Appalachia to the Commonwealth and Washington, D.C.Raider: ""(Crater Raiders' dialogue) 
They set up a formidable base of operations at the crashed space station, which they renamed the Crater. It is inevitable that outsiders who drop by unannounced will not receive a warm welcome.Inside the Vault: New Arrivals Coming to Appalachia in WastelandersFallout 76 Wastelanders loading screens: "When the Diehards Raider gang returned to Appalachia, they settled in the area of the crashed space station and named their new home the Crater."
The Blood Eagles, another raider gang unrelated to the Crater faction, also entered Appalachia at the same time, leading to tense interactions between their members. Their violence and sadism has led to their being declared monsters by many of the Crater Raiders. Other groups of recent raider arrivals include the Free Radicals, Edwin's gang, and Sargento's gang.
==Interactions with the player character==
Meg and the Raiders initially encounter the player character in the quest Strange Bedfellows when Rose wishes to contact them as part of a request by the Vault 76 overseer to protect them from the threat of the Scorched Plague. Upon meeting the Vault Dwellers, Meg is not too keen on having her Raiders inoculated and only will agree to it if the Vault Dweller aids her lieutenant Aldridge with an attack on the Scorched west of the Philippi Battlefield Cemetery. This is only if she cannot be convinced that she is making the same mistakes that David Thorpe and the old raiders did by not cooperating with the other factions in the Responders, Free States, and Brotherhood of Steel to combat the Scorched and scorchbeasts. Aldridge is found wounded inside a semi-trailer, his team wiped out, and a scorchbeast corpse lying on top of the trailer.
After deciding whether to kill him or allow him to go out on his own terms, the Vault Dwellers return to tell Meg what happened, and she agrees to have the Raiders inoculated to protect them from the Scorched Plague. With the Raiders now safe from becoming more of the scorchbeast queen's minions, the Dwellers soon have to decide which faction they are going to join to get to the riches hidden within Vault 79, as they can either join Meg and the raiders or go against them by allying with Paige and the Settlers. This will affect the Dwellers' relationship with the two factions depending on their actions from then on.
Various Raider patrols may be randomly encountered throughout Appalachia fighting off threats such as super mutants, Scorched, or feral ghouls. Should the Dwellers choose to help them, they may speak to the Raiders afterward and receive a small boost in reputation with the Raiders, but only once Strange Bedfellows is completed. 
==Locations==
* The Crater
* The Coop
* Crater watchstation
* Ohio River Adventures
==Members==
===Individuals===
===Robots===
* Moonshiner Ned
* Mortimer (after Secrets Revealed)
===Animals===
* Chompkins 
* Dogs
==Groups==
* Blackwater Bad Boys
* Diehards
* Lev's crew (formerly; optional)
* War Party
==Variants==
===Raider===
These are the weakest variant of Raiders, people attempting to reclaim Appalachia by any means possible.
===Raider scum===
Raider scum may appear in random encounters. One involves a Raider who reflects on noisy nights in dialogue.
===Raider psycho===
Raider psychos may appear in random encounters of roaming Raider bands battling various creatures.
===Raider scavver===
Raider scavvers are members of the Crater group searching for good materials to take advantage of in Appalachia. They may appear in random encounters of roaming Raider bands battling various creatures, or other random encounters such as attempting to lockpick a safe.
===Raider waster===
Raider wasters may appear in random encounters of roaming Raider bands battling various creatures.
===Raider survivalist===
Raider survivalists may appear in random encounters of roaming Raider bands battling various creatures.
===Raider veteran===
Raider veterans may appear in random encounters of roaming Raider bands battling various creatures, and can also be found at the Crater.
===Raider fiend===
Raider fiends are one of the strongest variants of Raiders. They may appear in random encounters of roaming Raider bands battling various creatures, and can also be found at the Crater.
===Raider hunter===
Raider hunters are employed by Rocksy to hunt down former raiders during the daily quest Retirement Plan. Several options in conversation include asking for their help dealing with the former Raider, convincing them to go cause trouble at Foundation, or telling them to give up the search and let the player character handle it.
===Raider thief===
Raider thieves have the assigned duty to steal from unsuspecting groups, such as the Settlers. The player character may have to negotiate or kill a Raider thief during the daily quest Vital Equipment. One Raider thief can often be found fighting the robots at relay tower HG-B7-09.
===Raider reaver===
Raider reavers are the most experienced type of Raider. They may appear in random encounters of roaming Raider bands battling various creatures, and can also be found at the Crater.
===Group leader===
Group leaders are uniquely-named raiders who may appear in random encounters leading a group of raiders, as the name implies. They may be encountered on the road on the way to Crater, where they will eventually arrive if unimpeded.
==Notes==
* Ward from Foundation, a former raider himself, refers to the Raiders as "craterheads."Settlers: "Ward, did you catch that raider chatter on the LF?"Ward: "LF? Might not have been our craterheads ... but you come to me ASAP if it's more than just idle talk, alright?"(Ward's dialogue)
* Pierce refers to the denizens of the Crater as "Craterites."Vault Dweller: "What about the rest of Crater?"Pierce: "We have plenty of support. Not everyone wants to be directly involved, but those who do are ready to risk life and limb. There's also your fair share of mercenary Craterites just looking for caps. But considering the Brotherhood could probably pay better, I suspect those mercs have an ounce of loyalty they're not willing to admit to."(Pierce's dialogue)
==Appearances==
Raiders appear in Fallout 76, introduced in the Wastelanders update and further expanded upon in Steel Dawn.
==Behind the scenes==
* Phil Speer was a major contributor to the design of the Crater Raiders.Archived screenshot of Speer's LinkedIn resume:"My proudest features include the work I did developing the Raiders faction main quest storyline for Fallout 76: Wastelanders and all of my content for Starfield."
* Prior to Expeditions: Atlantic City, the only time this group was explicitly referred to as the "Crater Raiders" was within the random encounter Blood Eagles Guarding a Collector vs. Crater Raider. Most of the time, this group is simply referred to as the Raiders. The "Crater Raiders" name was made definitive through terminal entries at the Coop and Lane Platte's dialogue. This page is named Crater Raiders to avoid confusion with the original raider groups, and as a more specific clarification of the name.
==Gallery==
FO76WL Rep Overview Raiders.jpg|Raiders reputation overview
FO76WL Raider group Bailey cabin.png|Raiders at the Bailey family cabin
FO76 flagwaving raidersfaction d.png|Flag of the Raiders
FO76 Concept Art Raider Outfit.jpg|Concept art by Joon Choi
==References==
Non-game
 
es:Saqueadores (Wastelanders)
ru:Рейдеры (Wastelanders)
zh:Raiders (Wastelanders)