Fallout 4: The Molecular Level - Power up the Signal Interceptor

This guide will help you complete the Molecular Level quest in Fallout 4, one of the longest quests in the game. It’s not particularly difficult in terms of combat, but the crafting might throw off some of the more honest players in the game. We crawled through rough conditions to complete this, ensuring that we had every detail to make sure you can do the same, and without all of the fuss.

If you instead need help with any other areas of Fallout 4, then head over to our Fallout 4 guides walkthrough hub, featuring additional quest walkthroughs, as well as rare items locations throughout the Commonwealth.

The Molecular Level Quest Walkthrough

Have the Courser Chip Analyzed

The first thing you’ll have to do is travel to Goodneighbor and speak to Dr. Amari. She’s the one that helped you through Fallout 4: Dangerous Minds, so you should have a fast travel option to move from your current location to Goodneighbor. Use it, and then speak with Dr. Amari to complete you first objective. She won’t be able to assist you, but she will advise that you seek out a specific faction called the Railroad.

Search the Railroad HQ

If you have completed a quest called Road to Freedom, you will have already met the Railroad. If that’s the case, you need to fast travel to their location and speak with Tinker Tom. If you have not completed that quest, you can read USgamer’s guide on Fallout 4: Road to Freedom. When you’re done, move back to this page and we’ll continue with this main quest.

Analyze the Courser Chip

When you have completed Road to Freedom, or simply fast traveled to the Railroad HQ, you’ll want to speak with a man named Tinker Tom. He is the one who can analyze the Courser Chip that you fought so hard to obtain, and then it’s on to the next objective.

Return to Virgil

Leave the Railroad HQ, as well as the church that is used to hide it. When you’re back on the street, fast travel back to Virgil at his Rocky Cave. Use a Rad-X to stop yourself from taking on too many Rads, then walk into the cave and speak with Virgil. He’ll hook you up with some schematics that you can use to build a Signal Interceptor.

Get Help to Build the Signal Interceptor

• Optional: Talk to the Minutemen
• Optional: Talk to the Railroad
• Optional: Talk to the Brotherhood

After you’re done talking with Virgil, exit his cave and use your Pip-Boy to travel to your next destination. Where that is depends on you, as you’ll get to choose whether you want to get the help of the Railroad, Minutemen or Brotherhood to complete the remainder of this quest. Since we already had a settlement established in Sanctuary, we opted to go there and speak with Preston Garvey, who then advised us to speak with Sturges.

Talk to [Faction Scientist]

In our case, this objective was Talk to Sturges, but you’ll have to talk to the scientist that works for the faction you decided to ask for help. If you chose the Minutemen, then you’ll have to talk to the same person that we did. It’s also worth noting that the remainder of this guide will explain how to build the Signal Interceptor in Sanctuary, but the design shouldn’t change even if you opted to construct it in another location.

Build the Reflector Platform

After our conversation with Sturges, we then had to begin construction by building the Reflector Platform. It is very important that you do this in the order that we outline here, as doing things differently can result in a glitch that prevents you from completing the quest. It’s fixable, so don’t worry too much.

When you’re ready, build and place the Reflector Platform in the middle of an open lot in Sanctuary, or if you are somewhere else, in a space that is fairly level and open. You’ll need a fair amount of space to complete this.

Also, getting the necessary supplies that you need to complete all this work can be a pretty big pain for those that don’t spend a lot of time scavenging. If you lack the supplies and want to do things right, start scavenging until you have what you need, or spend some caps at various vendors to buy it. If you just want the material and don’t care how, you can read USgamer’s guide to earning infinite caps and buying everything in the game.

Build the Beam Emitter

• Optional: Search Military Sites for a Circuit Board

After you have place the Reflector Platform, build the Beam Emitter and ensure that it snaps onto the Reflector Platform. We can’t stress this enough, if they don’t fit together like Lego, you didn’t do it right. It will literally snap into place when you have it in the correct position. If you are missing the Circuit Board for this, use your Pip-Boy to locate the parts you’re missing.

Build the Relay Dish

• Optional: Search Telecom Sites for a Sensor Module

The Relay Dish should be close to the Reflector Platform and Beam Emitter, but it doesn’t snap to either of them. Put it off to the side, but it should be on the same empty lot where you’ve been building the rest of your Signal Interceptor. Again, if you are lacking the Sensor Module, use your Pip-Boy to track one down so that you can progress to the next step.

Build the Console

• Optional: Search Hospitals for a Biometric Scanner

This is the fourth and final piece to your Signal Interceptor, although there is a lot more work to do. Place it near the Relay Dish, but again, it won’t snap to any of the other components. You can be as fancy or as basic as you would like when putting this altogether. If you lack the Biometric Scanner, consult your Pip-Boy to track one down and then meet us here to complete the project.

Power up the Signal Interceptor

Here is where people can get stuck, so we’re going to spell it out for you step by step, including the order that each component needs to be placed.

• Place the Reflector Platform
• Snap the Beam Emitter to the Reflector Platform
• Place the Relay Dish
• Build and Place the Console

When that’s complete, it’s time to add Power, and you’ll need 27 total. For this, we used three Large Generators, with each of them producing 10 Power. You can use whatever works, but we found this to be the most straightforward way to complete this task.

Place the three Large Generators next to each other, and then get ready to play the role of an electrician. This part took us nearly three hours because of a glitch, so our instructions must be followed exactly if you wish to avoid the same troubles. If you aren’t sure, back all the way up to the Build the Reflector Platform objective and start again.

Here is the order that you should add your Wires.

• Use one Wire to connect two of the three Large Generators together.
• Place a Large Power Pylon close to the Large Generators.
• Run a Wire from one of the two linked Large Generators to the Large Power Pylon.
• Connect that Large Power Pylon to the Beam Emitter with a single Wire.
• Place a second Large Power Pylon close to the third Large Generator.
• Run one Wire from the third Large Generator to the second Large Power Pylon.
• Connect one Wire from the Second Large Power Pylon to the Console.
• Connect one Wire from the Second Large Power Pylon to the Relay Dish.
• Run one Wire from the Console to the Beam Emitter.
• Finally, run one Wire from the Relay Dish to the Beam Emitter.

If this has all gone as we’ve outlined, you should have just completed the objective asking you to Power up the Signal Interceptor. We realize there are other (possibly more efficient) ways to do this, but this is how we completed the task, so we wanted to provide you with a tested solution. Again, if you are 100 percent sure you’ve got all of the Wires connected correctly, but there is still an objective marker on the Reflector Platform, you’ll have to take it all apart (store the items, don’t scrap them) and start again. The Reflector Platform must be placed first, and then the Beam Emitter snapped into place on top of it.

Talk to [Faction Scientist]

Again, in our case this was Sturges, but you’ll have to speak with the faction scientist that represents the crew you asked for assistance. At this point in the quest you shouldn’t have any trouble, however.

Use the Signal Interceptor

Let the faction scientist know that you’re ready to go, and then go stand on the Reflector Platform and just wait. You’ll eventually be beamed up to the Institute, completing this quest and taking you to the final main quest of Fallout 4.