So this one is a really odd edge case caused in large part because the developers assumed players would always go to the Red Rocket and grab Dogmeat, which unlocks the settlement and marks it as player owned. If you do not do that, there are two noteworthy things about the Red Rocket:
- The location has no "Boss" NPCs, which means that despite being marked clearable, it cannot be cleared.
- The workbench is not set to prohibit random recruitment quests via the "MinRecruitmentProhibitRandom" property on workshopscript.
These two things form a very unfortunate combination with the "HostileWorkshop" alias in "MinRecruit06" being set to search for the nearest applicable workshop to Preston Garvey and not utilizing the "LocationHasRefType" condition to verify if the location has a "Boss" NPC. Together, this results in any attempt to generate this quest while in Sanctuary picking the Red Rocket and then silently failing because the "HostileWorkshopBosses" alias cannot be filled.
In normal gameplay, this can be resolved by claiming the Red Rocket. It can also be resolved by leaving the Red Rocket unclaimed but moving Preston to another settlement. In terms of actual fixes, there are several options:
- Set "MinRecruitmentProhibitRandom" to true on the Red Rocket workbench. This approach is not compatible with existing saves.
- Place a "Boss" type NPC at the Red Rocket. This approach is technically compatible with existing saves but presents a negative user experience.
- Edit the "HostileWorkshop" alias for "MinRecruit06" to ensure it rejects workshops in locations that do not have "Boss" enemies. This is likely the best option, as it is compatible with existing saves and resolves the oversight in a way that players would not visibly notice.