What's the point of having so many settlements in this game?

[Amplifier]

Is there any point of maintaining all 30 settlements in the game? (apart from aesthetic purposes of building)

The only benefits there seems to be is the collection of caps (if you have set up shops) and purified water to sell.
But you can't possibly collect these from every single settlement out there each time. Like anyone would bother fast travelling to all settlements every few days to collect everyting,


For me, I just focus on two settlements to be my main settlements of collecting and trading. But what's the point of the rest of the settlements then?

Right now I'm starting to question if I should even build any more new settlements. And if I don't need to build any more settlements, I don't need to collect junk anymore, right? Especially if I already have a s***t ton of junk accumulated so far.

[nineCavalry]

they're good safe bed locations for survival..
don't need to be maintained or have any settlers at all.

[Sebathius]

If you arent working on being cool with the Minutemen, then its not really essential. I did solely brotherhood and didnt set up any of them with settlers, just used them as drop off locations so I can unload the crap I was carrying if for some reason I wanted to carry out some armor or weapons I came across (and even then most of the time I just left them and never bothered again).

Just because you have the option doesnt mean you have to play that way.

[AbsynthMinded]

Whatever use you can make of them, that's all. They can be utterly ignored for no negative impact on your over all game. In survival mode it is actually a negative to unlock them all because without fast travel you will miss settlement attack a lot.

[Coolidge]

Originally posted by lnconsequentiaI:

Is there any point of maintaining all 30 settlements in the game? (apart from aesthetic purposes of building)

The only benefits there seems to be is the collection of caps (if you have set up shops) and purified water to sell.
But you can't possibly collect these from every single settlement out there each time. Like anyone would bother fast travelling to all settlements every few days to collect everyting,


For me, I just focus on two settlements to be my main settlements of collecting and trading. But what's the point of the rest of the settlements then?

Right now I'm starting to question if I should even build any more new settlements. And if I don't need to build any more settlements, I don't need to collect junk anymore, right? Especially if I already have a s***t ton of junk accumulated so far.

Artillery fire is great if you actually use it.

[AbsynthMinded]

Originally posted by 103.7 NIGR:

Originally posted by lnconsequentiaI:

Is there any point of maintaining all 30 settlements in the game? (apart from aesthetic purposes of building)

The only benefits there seems to be is the collection of caps (if you have set up shops) and purified water to sell.
But you can't possibly collect these from every single settlement out there each time. Like anyone would bother fast travelling to all settlements every few days to collect everyting,


For me, I just focus on two settlements to be my main settlements of collecting and trading. But what's the point of the rest of the settlements then?

Right now I'm starting to question if I should even build any more new settlements. And if I don't need to build any more settlements, I don't need to collect junk anymore, right? Especially if I already have a s***t ton of junk accumulated so far.

Artillery fire is great if you actually use it.

Except learing to time things according to the delay is exceptionally annoying.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

I don't think Bethesda intended people to use all 30, but moreover just wanted a lot of options to build to one's tastes.

I like to Maintain three "Big" (20+) Settlements (Usually Sanctuary, Bunker Hill and The Castle), A couple "Medium" (8-10) (Usually Sunshine Tidings, Hangman's Alley and Kingsport Lighthouse) Settlements and invest minimally in the rest, usually by plopping down enough food to maximize production for 2-3 people and a couple defenses (Only NEED 1 per settler just to raise happiness)

[Trehek]

In short, massive XP. And caps, of course. Produce stuff you can use in recipes such as vegetable starch and craft a metric megaton of it! More people means more production and more XP!

[Coolidge]

Originally posted by AbsynthMinded:

Originally posted by 103.7 NIGR:

Artillery fire is great if you actually use it.

Except learing to time things according to the delay is exceptionally annoying.

well, it IS artillery fire. and it isn't that bad. Especially if you sneak up on the enemy.

[Amplifier]

Originally posted by Trehek:

In short, massive XP. And caps, of course. Produce stuff you can use in recipes such as vegetable starch and craft a metric megaton of it! More people means more production and more XP!

I don't like gaining too much XP so I use a mod that disables XP crafting.
I don't craft anything either, only mod armor and weapons.

Well, I guess screw settlements then. I'm done with it

[Black Smoke]

Settlements are amazing now with the DLC's and survival mode. In survival mode, you become sleep deprived you are awake too long without sleeping in a bed you own, not to mention the save point. Survival modes also makes it much harder to carry around gear, with nearly everything having weight and your overall carrying capacity is decreased. You can't fast travel to whatever vendor you like and sell all your junk after a mission, you have to walk there. Having settlements is great for selling your stuff and ressuplying on things you might need. Setllements are also great for purified water, food, and crafting/modding your equipment.
Setllements pretty much sucked before survival mode because you really only need one, but with all the new challenges survival mode adds, I think it's essential for you to have as many as possible, and each one should be as well off as possible before starting survival mode. I have a lot of supply lines connecting settlements before I start survival mode.

[AbsynthMinded]

Survival Mode as with so many things in FO4, is not all that fun. The game breaks its self a little with every level you gain. Once you are in the mid 30's to low 40's you should have all the essential perks you need to be unstoppable. Regardless of difficulty. The worst part of Survival is if you have all the settlements unlocked, they will be attacked at points you will not get to in time. No fast travel, no MinuteMen patrol to command and send.

Of coarse there is additional MODs for that also, but then it's still Bethesda whi consistantly fails to get things right to begin with.

[Shameless Instigator]

Survival a good bed and waterpump "safezone" I only ever put into local leader just so i can store my junk and have it linked by supplyline

[Yhwach]

The only time I use settlements is on survival mode, helps to have different stations to run supplies and have fresh drinking water and a safe place to hop between places.
Oh, and the beds.. definitely the beds.

[Marcao]

You make the minute man big with each settlement.
You have much work. If every settlement is happy, you complete your task. It could be fun to build them or not. If not it is no must. And you can generate money with each settlement with the stores. and you can generate stuff you need for chemistry station and you can generate trash for your weapons and armor.

[Dex]

Originally posted by Ken Bone:

The only time I use settlements is on survival mode, helps to have different stations to run supplies and have fresh drinking water and a safe place to hop between places.
Oh, and the beds.. definitely the beds.

Good point Ken. I've been thinking of starting a survival playthrough just to have some real threats and reason to use settlements.