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Fallout 4’s followers are incredibly hit or miss. At least, they are for me. However, Curie is honestly just great. She isn’t just my favorite Fallout 4 follower, but one of my favorites from the entire franchise.
It’s rare to find a character that has both a loveable personality and actual effectiveness in combat, but that’s exactly what Curie offers. She’s a remarkable breath of fresh air amongst a companion roster that I would argue is pretty stuffy and boring.
She possesses a natural ignorance of the current state of affairs in post-war America that in another character’s case could easily become irritating. However, it makes Curie endearing to the nth degree, making every single line of dialogue an absolute joy to listen to.
She’s also got a personal quest, and that’s a massive deal for Fallout 4! Curie is a fan favorite for a reason, and I implore you to find out why for yourself.
I’ve collected every single piece of information you need in this Curie Fallout 4 Guide. Whether it’s how to find her or how to trigger her quest, I’ve got you covered, so give this guide a read before you head out in search of everyone’s favorite Robo-Synth for yourself.
Bottom Line Up Front
- Recruiting Curie can be a hassle, given that you need to get to her first. You’ll have to complete the Vault 81 quest “Hole in the Wall” before you have a chance to bring her along as a companion.
- Curie is faction neutral. However, she likes it when you work with the Brotherhood of Steel and dislikes working with the Railroad.
- Curie’s likes and dislikes are extremely generic, making it difficult to farm her affinity. Instead, you should rely on Fallout 4’s passive affinity mechanic and bring her along while you do the main questline, explore, or work on your settlements.
- Curie is one of the few followers in Fallout 4 with a personal quest. This quest is unlocked at 250 affinity points and will involve you transplanting her personality into a Synthetic body.
Key Details
- Character Location: Vault 81.
- Related Quests: Hole in the Wall/Emergent Behaviour.
- Recruitment Cost: None (Quest Completion).
- Weapon: Laser Rifle.
- Faction Alignment: None
Description Overview
Curie is unique amongst Fallout 4’s followers in that having a lack of a back story is her backstory. Not only is she a robot, but she’s a robot that’s been trapped in a hidden part of Vault 81 since the Great War. She’s only ever interacted with three people and has never been outside.
That might sound like a recipe for a bland and blank character, but the reality is far from that. Curie’s ignorance is a part of her appeal. Despite having few interactions with humans, her personality, which is made up of two women that her creator was familiar with, is incredibly advanced. She was given the works of many great pre-war scientists to read while still in the company of Vault 81’s scientists, making her Intelligent and well developed despite being ignorant of how the wasteland operates.
After the natural death of her only human companions, Curie spent decades in isolation continuing the scientist’s work and creating a broad-spectrum cure. She completed the cure in 2204 and gives it to the player when they encounter her as a part of the Hole in the Wall quest.
Once the player frees Curie from her programming imprisonment, they’ll have to travel with her for a while before they can transfer her to a Synth body.
Despite ending up with a Synth body, Curie likes when you work with the Brotherhood of Steel. She identifies with the group’s mission, and they seem tolerable of her. She isn’t a Brotherhood diehard, though, and is more or less faction neutral, although she’s not a fan of the Railroad.
Curie’s Likes and Dislikes
Likes
Curie is possibly the hardest companion in the game to reach max affinity with through regular gameplay. Not only is her affinity locked until you complete her quest, but she doesn’t have any passive methods of gaining affinity like picking locks.
Instead, your best bet is to rely on Fallout 4’s passive affinity gain system. This, combined with any affinity you get for exploring and dialogue, will be enough to reach Curie’s max affinity in a day or two without having to farm any of her specific likes.
Doing Quests for the Mechanist
More or less, every follower in Fallout 4 likes it when you accept radiant quests from the Mechanist once you complete the Automatron DLC. This is a painstakingly slow way to gain affinity with Curie, so I would recommend you stay away from farming it.
Doing Settler Quests
If you’re determined to max Curie’s affinity as soon as possible, then Settler quests should be your go-to instead of Mechanist quests. These quests are a pain, but it doesn’t take too long to complete them.
Helping the Brotherhood
Alternatively, Curie likes it when you help the Brotherhood of Steel. It also happens that the Brotherhood has some pretty nice repeatable radiant quests that run alongside the main questline. So, if you’re doing a Brotherhood playthrough, make sure you bring Curie along for the ride.
Dislikes
Similar to her generic likes, Curie’s dislikes are pretty par for the course when compared to the other companions in the game. You’re going to have to go out of your way to lose affinity with her, which is handy given how hard it is to get that affinity in the first place.
Stealing/Pickpocketing
Despite being the creation of a wildly unethical science experiment, Curie has morals and standards. For example, she doesn’t like it when you steal from people. The affinity loss you acquire for a bit of petty theft isn’t much, but try not to make a habit out of it.
Cannibalism
As a scientist and a generally well-adjusted artificial person, Curie doesn’t like it when you chow down on your fellow human’s flesh. For most players, this won’t be a problem. For the few sickos out there that use the Cannibal perk, try to refrain from indulging while you’ve got Curie along for the ride.
Related Quests
Hole in the Wall
Donate Blood and Chase a Cat
These two activities aren’t strictly a part of the Hole in the Wall quest, but they are required for you to trigger it.
First, when you arrive in Vault 81, speak with Dr. Forsythe. You’ll have to donate some of your blood then leave the vault. If you can, try and complete the Here Kitty, Kitty quest during this time. If you don’t, you’ll need to wait 24 hours outside of the vault and potentially complete a different quest to get Hole in the Wall to trigger.
Return to the Vault’s Medical Bay and Speak with Dr. Penske
Once you’ve waited a day and completed a quest, you need to return to Vault 81. Head straight to the Medical Bay to talk with Dr. Penske. Penske will explain that a little kid called Austin was bitten by a Mole Rat, triggering the Hole in the Wall quest.
From here, you need to follow Bobby De Luca to his drug stash in the Vault’s reactor room. He’ll lead you to a hidden entrance to the secret area of the Vault, at which point you’ll be tasked with entering the area and returning with a cure for Austin.
Fight Through the Diseased Mole Rats
Once you get into the hidden area of Vault 81, you need to be extremely careful. Ideally, set up a save here before you start so that you can revert to it if anything goes wrong. If you’re completely against save-scumming, then you need to take your time.
If you’re a stealth character, try to keep your distance as much as possible and take out the Mole Rats at range. If you’re not built for stealth, try to set up explosives and take all the Mole Rats out before they have a chance to reach you.
If the Mole Rats manage to bite you, you might end up with a permanent disease that decreases your max HP by 10. The only way to cure this is by using the cure meant for Austin, which will destroy your reputation with Vault 81.
So, take your time and make sure you clear out all the Mole Rats before exploring. You should explore, too, because you’ll be able to read all of the juicy lore regarding Vault 81 and the experiment that was meant to take place there.
Find Curie and the Cure
In the final area of the dungeon, you’ll find a terminal that you’ll need to either hack or unlock using a password found elsewhere in the Vault.
Once you get past this terminal, you will have finally found Curie. She’ll have some dialogue regarding who she is and why she’s here. Once you have a chat, she’ll give you the last remaining dose of the cure needed to save Austin’s life. She’ll then follow you up a hidden elevator back into Vault 81.
Return with the Cure
I stressed that it was important for you to not get bitten by any of the Mole Rats in the hidden area of Vault 81, and that’s because of this choice you’ll have to make.
When you return to the Medical Bay with the cure, you’ll be presented with two options. First, you can give Austin the cure, saving his life and securing the gratitude of Vault 81’s citizens. However, if you do this and catch the disease yourself, there will be no way for you to get rid of it. It’s only a loss of 10 HP, but it’s not something you want to see every time you open up the status screen in your Pip-Boy.
If you haven’t caught the disease, then there’s no downside to doing this.
Your second option is keeping the cure for yourself, regardless of whether or not you need it. Doing so will result in Austin dying, souring Vault 81’s resident’s opinions of you. However, this is the only way for you to heal yourself of the disease.
Unless you’re playing as an evil lowlife, there is no benefit to doing this beyond curing yourself. You cannot do anything else with the cure.
There is a third option, although it’s an exploit and shouldn’t be attempted by any players that don’t like using cheats or glitches.
Given that this quest is the only one of its type in the entire game, you might be caught off-guard when you learn about the potentially permanent effects it has on your character. A lot of players might feel cheated as a result. I know I did when I first played it. After all, there was no warning or precedent for this type of mechanic.
If you feel that way, then there is a duplication exploit you can use to both heal yourself and Austin. To do it, you’ll need to drink the cure while actively in conversation with Dr. Forsythe. Doing so will remove the debuff from you while tricking the game into thinking you still have it in your inventory.
If you do plan on doing this, make sure you set up a quick save before you attempt it.
Regardless of how you resolve the matter of the cure, Hole in the Wall will complete and Curie will ask to accompany you on your travels around the Commonwealth.
Emergent Behaviour
Gain 250 Affinity Points With Curie
If you felt misled by Curie when you first found her, don’t stress out. We all went looking for the French nurse, and we were all met with the female equivalent of Codsworth.
To get Curie into her human/Synth body, you need to complete her quest. Given that she’s one of the few Fallout 4 companions with a personal quest, this means that her affinity will be locked, preventing you from reaching the max rank until you complete it.
To trigger the quest, all you have to do is rack up 250 affinity points with her. Travel around with Curie following you, and you should get this quest fairly quickly.
Once you do, Curie will speak to you and explain that her scientific progress is being hampered by a lack of “human inspiration”, and she’ll ask you to assist with the problem.
Complete Dangerous Minds and Suggest Dr. Amari
At this point, the quest can go two ways. First, if you’re early into your playthrough and haven’t finished Dangerous Minds, you’ll be prevented from progressing until you do. If you have completed Dangerous Minds, you’ll be able to suggest Dr. Amari to Curie.
Dangerous Minds is the quest that takes place immediately after you catch Kellogg. It’s part of the main questline, so it’s impossible to miss it.
If you triggered Emergent Behaviour before Dangerous Minds, you could complete the latter then speak with Curie again to suggest a visit to Dr. Amari.
Speak to Dr. Amari and Wait 24 Hours
Head to Goodneighbour and into the Memory Den to speak with Amari. When you bring up the topic of a personality transplant, she’ll mention that she could use a Synth body.
Amari will explain that if a memory wipe on an Institute Synth goes wrong, it’ll leave them in a vegetative state and that she could use one of these bodies for Curie.
Morality and ethics aside, you’ll need to agree to this plan then wait 24 hours to progress the quest.
Speak with Either Glory or the Caretaker in the Basement of the Memory Den
After waiting the full 24 hours, head down to the basement of the Memory Den. You’ll meet with either Glory, or an unnamed Caretaker NPC depending on the current state of the Railroad.
Either one of them will give their permission for the procedure to take place, at which point all you have to do is sit back while Curie is transferred to her new humanoid body. This will complete Emergent Behaviour and unlock Curie’s affinity.
It’s worth noting that once the procedure takes place, Curie’s old body will be rendered null and void. However, anything she had in her inventory will not transfer over automatically. You’ll have to loot her Robo-corpse if you want to reobtain any of her gear.
Curie’s Companion Perk
Combat Medic
Combat Medic isn’t a bad perk by any stretch of the imagination. However, it’s not super powerful like Deacon’s is. Instead, it occupies a useful middle ground and brings value to all players regardless of playstyle or build.
Once you reach max affinity with Curie, she’ll comment on how she’s had a scientific breakthrough. Using Mutfruit, she’s found a way to make Stimpacks more effective. Rather than her perk simply increasing Stimpack healing, though, it has a unique effect that triggers when you drop below 10% of your total HP.
When you hit that threshold, you will automatically heal 100 Hit Points. This effect has a cooldown of 24 hours, so you can only use it once per day.
Despite having a pretty low uptime, Combat Medic can save you in a lot of dire situations. If you end up forgetting to heal or take too much damage to have a chance to heal, it can give you a few extra vital seconds to run away and reposition.
For most players, this is great. However, if you’re playing a high Endurance build that stacks up health, it’s not all that great. When you have hundreds of Hit Points, a single heal of 100 HP isn’t all that.
How to Find Curie in Fallout 4
Vault 81
Vault 81 is located just outside Downtown Boston. It’s a light jog West of Hangman’s Alley, so explore that area and look for a Vault map marker on your compass.
Getting into the Vault once you’ve found it is a bit of an ordeal, though. True to the nature of most open Vaults, the dwellers inside are distrustful of anyone that isn’t a trader. So, you have two options. First, you can pass a rather difficult speech check to convince them to let you in. If that fails, you’ll need to bring them three Fusion Cores.
If you’re only at the start of your playthrough, this is more troublesome than it sounds. FCS are a valuable resource for new players, so having to give up three of them is a big commitment. For those that are a bit later into their Fallout 4 playthrough, though, it’s a trivial request.
Either way, you’ll need to get into the Vault if you want to recruit Curie.
Hole in the Wall
Getting into Vault 81 is only the first part of the Curie-recruitment puzzle. Once inside, you’ll have to complete the Hole in the Wall quest to both finds and recruit her. Follow the guide I’ve included above, and you should have no issues getting through it. Just make sure you watch out for the Mole Rats.
Once you complete the quest, you can bring her off on your merry adventures.
Curie’s Playstyle
While most of the other companions in Fallout 4 are fairly generic in combat, Curie is different because she has a unique trait. Rather than scaling her HP with this player like every other follower, her Hit Points are set. While she’s in her robotic form, she has 440. Once she transfers over to her Synth body, that number gets pumped up to 670. That’s the equivalent of being level 50 with all of the other companions in Fallout 4.
Combine that with the fact that you can give her clothes and armor as a Synth, and you have what is easily the tankiest follower in the entire game. This makes her great at carrying difficult combat encounters for lower leveled players.
This combat effectiveness is doubled by the fact that her default weapon is a Laser Rifle, making Curie capable of both absorbing and outputting high damage numbers.
In terms of the player, Curie is suited to more or less every single playstyle. While her personality compliments a high Intelligence, health-based build, her perk is useful to everyone minus Endurance players.
Altogether, this makes Curie one of the best followers in Fallout 4 when it comes to combat. She’s right up there with Danse in terms of just how well she can carry the player through difficult encounters.
Key Relationships and Quotes
Kenneth Collins
Kenneth Collins is Curie’s creator. He’s the Vault-Tec scientist responsible for her personality, as well as her scientific abilities.
After Collins got trapped in Vault 81 with his two scientist colleagues, he upgraded a Ms. Nanny bot. He created a personality matrix based on two women he was familiar with from his past and uploaded the works of many great scientists to it. This development resulted in Curie, who was then tasked with continuing the scientist’s work of developing a super-cure after they perish. Curie succeeded in this task, presenting the cure to the Sole Survivor during the Hole in the Wall quest.
FAQs
Question: Can You Romance Curie in Fallout 4?
Answer: Yes, you can romance Curie in Fallout 4. Once you complete Emergent Behaviour, it will be possible to start flirting with Curie, culminating in romance once you max out her affinity points.
Question: How Do You Turn Curie Into a Human?
Answer: In order to turn Curie into a human, you’ll need to complete the Emergent Behaviour quest. This is Curie’s quest and is unlocked at 250 affinity points. You will need to have completed the Dangerous Minds main quest to progress it.
Question: What Faction Does Curie like in Fallout 4?
Answer: Despite ending up in a Synth body, Curie likes the Brotherhood of Steel. The group is tolerant of her, and you will gain affinity points with Curie for helping the BoS achieve its objectives.
Conclusion
Curie is a personal favorite of mine when it comes to Fallout 4’s characters. Not having much of a backstory is her backstory, given that she’s been trapped in Vault 81 since the bombs fell. This is a clever way to explain the lack of lore that all of the game’s companions suffer from.
On top of that, her inexperience with the current state of America results in some incredibly charming dialogue. She’ll make remarks about filing police reports during combat, as well as other quips in different situations that make her ignorance incredibly charming and endearing.
Not only is she an enjoyable character to interact with, but she’s also a combat powerhouse thanks to her set HP, making her the perfect companion candidate for any low-level players struggling to progress through the game.
She’s a breath of fresh air compared to Fallout 4’s other followers, so I highly recommend you recruit her for yourself.