First settlement seems terrible

[Horror Pigeon]

Idk if this is by design or randomized but this settlement is awful

settlement is on a frequent fire storm planet

+ propaganda broadcast array
- signal blackspot
- poisoned water
- uncultured
- intermittent lighting failures

54 citizens, 35 happiness, 81,467 production, 222,412 maintenance
I have since built a hydration silo and landing pad

how are they going to get out of debt without production? production
is disabled because they can't pay debt. Is this settlement hopeless?

[momopovich]

Most settlements startwith crappy stuff you just have to keep waiting and it will get positive traits and better production/happiness/population. That is completely useless anyway, you can just use the buildings for decoration

[Zak]

Originally posted by momopovich:

Most settlements startwith crappy stuff

This, basically. You just need to wait until it gets better.

Also, settlements are one of the weak features of this game.

[Felis_Exploria]

Each new building you construct will either increase population, increase production, or reduce maintenance costs. Usually, you start making profit after 2 or 3 buildings, depending on rng factors, like initial deficit and building options.

[Eventide]

As you visit over and over, and respond to citizen and visitor requests, a settlement can eventually reach zero maintenance costs, 100% happiness, and climb from "C" to "S" quality. This can take a LONG time; its just another thing to do in between explorations, missions, etc. Trying to upgrade it could become a personal goal, but these special settlements are not essential to the progress of any quest or mission.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

You get to pick the planet environment for the settlement. Don't like it? Don't sign up to be Overseer. Keep traveling until you get a request on a nice planet- or at least an acceptable planet. I got lucky and my first settlement- Lago - was no my home planet in Eissentam.

Shirt sleeve weather and interesting landscaping.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2603448587

[Horror Pigeon]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

You get to pick the planet environment for the settlement. Don't like it? Don't sign up to be Overseer. Keep traveling until you get a request on a nice planet- or at least an acceptable planet. I got lucky and my first settlement- Lago - was no my home planet in Eissentam.

Shirt sleeve weather and interesting landscaping.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2603448587

This all started with a freighter under attack. for reasons unknown they gathered
planetside on a settlement. being overseer is part of a quest called trace of metal
and I wish I had explored anything about exocrafts because this involves use of
the minotaur. so I was involving myself in all the settlements' hellish problems
bad visibility and shield damage from super-heated storms with only 1-2 minute
breaks of peace, sentinel attacks during storms, pirate air raids during storms with-
out an exocraft. one time it was so bad it was constant battle for 40 minutes
I have not seen any semblance of a defense structure that involves aa weapons

the settlement is at 49% happiness which is green and they are out of debt, I
have my minotaur set up and am answering a proposition from the citizens. not
nearly as bad as before when several things triggered at once

[Sanquin]

You don't have to accept the first settlement. You can ignore it, buy charts from the cartographer in the space station, and use those to detect other settlements. What I usually do is travel until I find a nice paradise planet to have a settlement on, buy a chart, save the game, and use the chart. If it doesn't direct me to the planet I want I reload and try again until I get it on the right planet.

But either way settlements will start off bad. They will have debt and more maintenance cost than income. And that's the point. You're supposed to develop it into a profitable, thriving settlement. The production from all settlements I've seen so far sucks though. So it's not really worth it for the goods it produces. It's just another extra thing you can do in between traveling/exploring.

[dreamrider]

... if you child happens to be a civics and accounting micromanagement nerd, with a bent for occasionally driving the biker gangs out of town with a submachine gun.

[smurfy]

tbh, a starting population of 54 is pretty good. I've started many with around 35.

Population growth is the most tedious part of Settlement management. Everything else eventually goes green, even when you're making some bad decisions.

[yaerav]

Sounds like ye jolly olde frontier settlement Honestly though, I kept shopping around and changing settlements until I found one on a planet with calm weather, because I don't mind storms while exploring or gathering resources, but I don't like it with settlement stuff, especially when jostling with sentinels.