Good settlement building mods (for defense and building)

[~WiFiEmoGirl~]

!BEFORE YOU COMMENT!
I have searched discussions and have posted a discussion alike (a year or two ago).
I came back to Fallout 4 hoping to play it, had a good set of mods already ready.
I would like to know of good settlement building mods for both building and defense. Settlement defense I found to always be easy. I started playing survival and would like a challenge for defending settlements.
I would like to know of good settlement building mods for defense to aid me in what comes. Of course good QOL settlement mods too.
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I always felt settlement-building lacked taste.
Settlement bulding felt like taking a ♥♥♥♥ in a toilet, then you use up the last roll. It was good at the start, then when you go to the store toilet paper is gone.
In other words, settlement building is good at the start but lacks at the end.

I build a mighty settlement, just to have a couple people attack it. It is boring.
It'd be fantastic to have a defense mod that makes choke points and defense position useful. The settlement raids will pose a threat and a big one. Even towards the end.

Besides that settlement building is decent. But more stuff would be nice. More defense to aid me with a more difficult raids mod, Quality of Life features.

I would like settlement building to feel like it is actually useful, when you are in and outside your settlement. You need to defend it and actually have a settlement. Even when outside settlement can aid. Like reinforcements or a supply transport to carry your loot back to home. Or actual supply lines you may need to protect, things like that. To make the settlement system feel immersive.
Also yes I play on survival mode, but settlements are just boring and lack good features.

For those who commented, thank you much!

[Bored Peon]

This is kind of a tough ask.

I have used MANY settlement combat mods
- Creation Club Ambush Kit
- Horizon
- Sim Settlement Conqueror
- Sim Settlements 2
- a couple others

In my experience there is a point that defense design will always easily overpower the attackers. Like missile launchers for example, they will waste an attacking for flat in a few seconds, which leads back to your original problem, boring.

Then it also goes the other way in Sim Settlements Conqueror where every attacker had moltovs and grenades and it was just explosion spam the other way.

So to get the enjoyment you are looking for you need both balanced mods and balance yourself. As in if you build yourself 30 turrets to defend your base it becomes boring.

The best rule of thumb is you want have the minimum safety rating which is 1 point defense for every 4.5 points of food production. Water production is not factored into the safety rating. That is the bare minimum for safety rating in a settlement, lower than that you get a happiness penalty. Of course someone is going to tell you 1 for 1, that is for defense purposes to prevent attacks. You are looking to have more settlement attacks and following the 1 to 1 rule of thumb will drop the chance down to the bare minimum of 2% a day.

I would also recommend finding a mod that removes level limits on mobs to certain areas. Simply because this will make it so you have tougher mobs attacking your northwestern settlements.

[hawkeye]

Even with 50 high level gunner attackers it's boring. Followers and settlers are immortal. When wounded they just sit down. Attackers will easily take out any turrets. So it becomes all left to you all by your lonesome. Just requires a lot of ammo and stimpaks to win.

Even if settlers are mortal their AI isn't up to the task. The Conqueror mod is an example. You get to try to reclaim a settlement aided by soldiers fighting with you. The soldiers get killed almost immediately because the AI is too dumb to make them seek cover. And it's up to you by yourself as usual.

However in reality no attacker would stick around once a few casualties are taken. And they wouldn't attack kamikaze style. And the same goes for defenders. For example, Starlight Drive-In is almost indefensible. There is a hill overlooking the site. As happened in the 1700's with Fort Ticonderoga in upstate NY, the fort had to be abandoned because a hill overlooked the fort. In real life Finch Farm, Sunshine Tidings Co-op, Ten Pines Bluff, Output Zimonja, The Slog to name just a few would be indefensible.

I haven't tried this but I have read that some players make settlers mortal. And set up strong points where settlers retreat to using markers provided by a mod. I don't know which mod. Maybe Horizon or SS Conqueror.

(XCom2 has settlement attacks. The aliens go after the non-combatant settlers who retreat to strongpoint buildings. Combatant settlers try to defend the building. You and your team have to fight your way thru enemies to save the settlers in the building. It works but it is turn-based.)

Some mods to check out -
Settlement Ambush Kit.
Sim Settlements Conqueror which adds a soldier profession. (I tried this mod once but your soldiers tend to die almost immediately in firefights. Plus if any of your troops hit a settler by accident the settlers all turn hostile as per the vanilla game.)

I don't think real-time combat is feasible in this game. Hopefully there is someone out there who has a solution.

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by hawkeye:

I haven't tried this but I have read that some players make settlers mortal.

I tried this before with Sim Settlements Conqueror.
- Provisoners were picked off constantly, especially at Ten Pines.
- Settlers at Taffington drowned which gave happiness penalty and prevented plots leveling.
- The buzzsaw in the SS lumbermill plot would kill settlers.
- Settlers take falling damage.

Yeah while it was cool at first it just quickly became annoying and miserable.

[~WiFiEmoGirl~]

Originally posted by Pookie101:

I personally use SKK's settlement attack mod. very customisable. Be aware that at even 50% enemy numbers there are a lot.
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/37393

The salvage beacons mod is good for an immersive way to get your loot picked up. It sends a salvage team to the container you drop a beacon in and transports everything in it back to the designated settlement. It can take upwards of a day for things to arrive from one end of the Commonwealth
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/18757

Thanks for this. These two mods are really good.

I have better settlers and difficult raid, hopefully those two improve things. If they do I'll link them.