Settlements and getting settlers

[gavtheman]

Just a quick question, I'm guessing the only way to get settlers in your settlements is to set up the beacons, do you need to set up a beacon in every settlement to get some settlers - I've just noticed that some settlements only have 1 or 2 people, or even 0 and that can't be good. Or is it better to just build a few beacons and send settlers from one place to another. I've just been concentrating on levelling up and getting into trouble, does have more settlers make them better defended?

[gavtheman]

Ah, I've just noticed one settlement has 17 people and only 2 beds, no defence or water ... ooops, think I need to get my head around linking them up to share resources and sorting them out. Looking through my pipboy and a lot of them are not very happy

[Iron Knights]

No, sometimes they show up with no beacon, but the beacon ensures you get 10 + CHA.
Defenses are Posts & Turrets, don't have them ? No Defense Rating. Put settlers to work the guard posts and armor and arm them well. 1 settler can handle 6 food crops, with mutfruit giving a full 1 food point while others 0.5 points. No power ? Build manual handle pumps enough to cover the number of people.

[Ron_1953]

Sometimes one or two settlers just show up when you access the workbench, but the beacon keeps them coming in. I put the first settler on food production, put in a water pump and build beds. Then I put up a couple of turrets. The more resources in a settlement the more likely it is to be attacked so don't put in more water and food production than you need unless you also build a lot of defenses or want to fight. Every settler needs food water and a bed. I arm and armor settlers with spare stuff, make sure they have a little matching ammo. Be careful of arming settlers with nukes, rocket launchers etc, they will blow each other up and generally make a mess. Same with rocket turrets. I try to have only enough farmers to feed the settlement, one provisioner, a couple of heavily armed defenders and the rest scavenging. Maybe a trader later. Walls are mostly useless, stuff spawns wherever it spawns. Pay attention to the description of how much benefit you get from various turrets, guard posts etc so you get the most good from your resources.

[gavtheman]

Great, thanks all, I must set up some supply lines as I've got loads of stuff stuck in one place and some workshops that have hardly anything so it'snot easy building stuff

[Xenon The Noble]

Settlers... Some plays I'd build settlements for 20 people, then never add a settler. No recruitment beacon.
Why? You get XP for building. You get lip and sass for getting settlers. I guess if you play Survival you need a few for food, but you're better off water farming, buying food or going to Diamond City and recruiting Sheffield with a Nuka Cola in the same trip you go to buy the Overseer's Guardian. Sheffield is the only non-robot settler who won't give SS lip and sass.

Also, why buy into the "happy settlers" meme. They hardly ever say thanks. You don't get anything but a brownie Badge to show off to other players who don't give a fudge about your "accomplishments". I guess they produce more, with 50 happiness producing ~ 75% production, but... Settlers attract raiders like poop attracts flies. You end up spending the slightly better production on turrets and settlement defenses.

[socialmediaaddress3]

I get my settlers from here:
https://www.loverslab.com/topic/154476-commonwealth-captives

With this mod anytime you bust up raider camp or supermutant camp, there will be human captives to rescue.
You can manipulate the spawn %ages of both numbers and sex of the captives, via the Mod Control menu (which we should all run anyway)

Grown up content warning:
As you might expect in a lawless wasteland, the captives are nude and tied up in suggestive poses.
In respect for human nature, most folks will set them to 100% female and the mod has a pool of pretty presets for them.
You then can talk to them untie them, and send them on the road, or to your favorite settlement, or have them simply follow you there and then release them to that settlement there.
If combat is not over, as soon as u untie them they will fight on your side even if they wear zero clothes and are unarmed.. So for immersion I feel its best to wait to untie them until all raiders/supermutants are gone.

But if you want more guards or men for any other reason, you can also set it as 100% guys,
or 50/50 m/f if u want.

I trust rescued settlers more than the ones who come from the beacons.
Those could include synth spies/sabotuers (this is very rare in the game but it does happen).
But rescued captives are never going to be placed synth agents.

The rescuees are all only level 2 though, so they need good armor and arms if u want them to be useful in a fight.

Also Better Settlers is another mod.

You dont get as many as with commonwealth captives but they are highers levels.
Especially Luke the former Minuteman is a great fighter , and he is a random encounter on the road between sanctuary and diamond City.
Most folks dont want to recruit him because he is an obvious raging alcoholic.
but he fights hard for you and your settelements and is happy to be associated again with the minutemen and has respectful dialog for you once he sobers up.
I have also found him before hanging out in one of my settlements if I dont find/recruit him early in the game.

Actually, now that I think about it, while he may be from this :
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4772

he may also be from this:
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8704

I have all 3 of the linked mods installed.
They work great together.

[gavtheman]

Originally posted by Xenon The Noble:

Also, why buy into the "happy settlers" meme. They hardly ever say thanks.

Yeah, I kind of get that, up until now I've just enjoyed roaming around having fun. I've just got Preston Garvey as a companion and every time I complete something he has another 'defend a settlement' quest... would it be bad to go to some of the settlements that aren't doing well or too many people for the resources and bump them off to get some peace and quiet?

[TemplarGR]

Every single settlement needs a beacon to attract more settlers. You do get some without it some times but you definitely need it long term.

[akuarmoton]

With 'Smart recruitment radio beacon' mod you don't have to worry about overpopulating your settlements.

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/58588

[socialmediaaddress3]

I use Commonwealth Captives from lovers lab it ( and I quote):'

"Adds bound captives to Raider and Super Mutant lairs that you can rescue and recruit for your settlements.

Commonwealth Captives randomly spawns captive settlers in various states of distress throughout enemy lairs in the Commonwealth.

Once freed, the settlers become followers who can be given equipment and who will fight alongside you. You can also request sexual favors from them in return for your gallant efforts. When you are ready, you can dismiss them or recruit them to one of your settlements."

End quote.

The settlers are tied up nude and presented in a erotic manner.
but it doesnt change that they cna be fully fucntiponing settlers.
Also the female sttelers u rescue tend to be quite attractive, better than game average.
You cna control the %age of males vs females that u find in the mod control Menu.
Most folks set the controller to all female though.
And I feel they can be trusted more and will never be synths.

This way when u need ot populate a settlement you just raid knows supermutant or raider lairs and after kiling the bad guys take the rescued settlers to your settlements.

[Xenon The Noble]

Originally posted by gavtheman:

Originally posted by Xenon The Noble:

Also, why buy into the "happy settlers" meme. They hardly ever say thanks.

Yeah, I kind of get that, up until now I've just enjoyed roaming around having fun. I've just got Preston Garvey as a companion and every time I complete something he has another 'defend a settlement' quest... would it be bad to go to some of the settlements that aren't doing well or too many people for the resources and bump them off to get some peace and quiet?

I tried that. Garvey sends you to some boil on the hind end of humanity "settlement" which is a shack and two sacks for beds. . I get tired of it and just pull a Jezebel and shoot the settlers. Then report back to Garvey they won't be joining "our cause". Phht. Garvey's cause. The settlers thank Garvey, not SS.
It's funny, but the game seems wise to that and Garvey sends you to some quest where you can't pull that stunt again.

[Xenon The Noble]

Originally posted by socialmediaaddress3:

I use Commonwealth Captives from lovers lab it ( and I quote):'

"Adds bound captives to Raider and Super Mutant lairs that you can rescue and recruit for your settlements.

Commonwealth Captives randomly spawns captive settlers in various states of distress throughout enemy lairs in the Commonwealth.

Once freed, the settlers become followers who can be given equipment and who will fight alongside you. You can also request sexual favors from them in return for your gallant efforts. When you are ready, you can dismiss them or recruit them to one of your settlements."

End quote.

The settlers are tied up nude and presented in a erotic manner.
but it doesnt change that they cna be fully fucntiponing settlers.
Also the female sttelers u rescue tend to be quite attractive, better than game average.
You cna control the %age of males vs females that u find in the mod control Menu.
Most folks set the controller to all female though.
And I feel they can be trusted more and will never be synths.

This way when u need ot populate a settlement you just raid knows supermutant or raider lairs and after kiling the bad guys take the rescued settlers to your settlements.

You can also use Just Business, but it's a bit more difficult.

[Xenon The Noble]

Originally posted by TemplarGR:

Every single settlement needs a beacon to attract more settlers. You do get some without it some times but you definitely need it long term.

You also recruit cows with a settlement beacon. Cows are nicer than settlers, it's just that the ♥♥♥♥ cows give you is useful and the ♥♥♥♥ you get from settlers isn't.
Best to buy cows (100 caps) from Kelly the used Cow dealer and from Cow traps.

[gavtheman]

Haven't got my head around using mods yet, I read a guide and it just makes my head hurt - I'm ok with console command stuff but putting things into some directory and typing something somewhere, nope I don't understand it (too old)

Originally posted by Xenon The Noble:

I tried that. Garvey sends you to some boil on the hind end of humanity "settlement" which is a shack and two sacks for beds. . I get tired of it and just pull a Jezebel and shoot the settlers. Then report back to Garvey they won't be joining "our cause". Phht. Garvey's cause. The settlers thank Garvey, not SS.
It's funny, but the game seems wise to that and Garvey sends you to some quest where you can't pull that stunt again.

What if you just go to the failing settlements and dismiss any settlers to somewhere else before Garvey sends you to defend it?

[Xenon The Noble]

Originally posted by gavtheman:

Haven't got my head around using mods yet, I read a guide and it just makes my head hurt - I'm ok with console command stuff but putting things into some directory and typing something somewhere, nope I don't understand it (too old)

Yeah, I did the manual mode too. I'm old like SS also means "Socialist Security" old, which is old enough to know not to do it the wipper-snapper way. Way back when the game first game out, I did Mod Organizer. Now I use Vortext, which has only borked my game when I switched to Skyrim. It didn't just bork the profile I was using for Fallout 4, but all of them.
All. Of. Them.
Delete them all and start over.
I'm not bitter about that tho. Gonna make a mod called "Johnny Vortex" tho, and salt and turpintine and combat knife..

Originally posted by gavtheman:

Originally posted by Xenon The Noble:

I tried that. Garvey sends you to some boil on the hind end of humanity "settlement" which is a shack and two sacks for beds. . I get tired of it and just pull a Jezebel and shoot the settlers. Then report back to Garvey they won't be joining "our cause". Phht. Garvey's cause. The settlers thank Garvey, not SS.
It's funny, but the game seems wise to that and Garvey sends you to some quest where you can't pull that stunt again.

What if you just go to the failing settlements and dismiss any settlers to somewhere else before Garvey sends you to defend it?

You can't dissmiss them all. usually, there's a settlement leader who can't be dismissed, but you can kill them.