Settlement Tips and Tricks

[Holy Athena]

I decided to make this post, for others, and myself to help give tips and tricks. Good ones, or ones I see worth re posting, I'll copy on the OP for everyone to see, at least for the time that I'm upkeeping it.

Fair warning, depending on how antsy you are about spoilers, read at your own disgression.

I have made this into a guide here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=554737480



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Building:

- Remember nearly everything can be destroyed when your in building mode [v]. Walk around in this mode while inside your settlment. You can scrap cars, light poles, tree's, and even the collapsed buildings in sanctuary to make room for more.

- While Building if you click and hold E, you can move your mouse to fine tune the placement of an item. This way you can make things fit snuggly against a wall. - Holding E and using scroll wheel will make it move up/down.

- Think Big: It seems there is not a limit to what you can build. You could technically make the entire area of Santuary 1 massive building 10 stories high, able to hold hundreds of inhabitants, with machien gun nests, and automated missile launchers around the entire outside.. use this unlimited building to your advantage! (Edit: There is a size limit to settlements, however 2 tips below remove this building limit for unlimited potential)

- There is currently a way to bypass the item cap limit of settlements. Follow these steps:

1) Go to a settlement, go into your workshop screen and pull up the item which you wish to place. Press ESC to exit when you have it highlighted.

2) Go to your inventory, and drop a piece of junk onto the ground in your settlement. Any junk will do.

3) Go back to your workshop screen, and destroy the item you just dropped for materials. Before doing so, be sure that you have the item you wish to make highlighted (and have all the components).
You can repeat this process as needed, hope this helps! I know it helps me a ton! Was so happy to figure this little trick out. I just hope that they don't change it, I like violating the settlement item cap and putting tons of stuff in there. It is really necessary if you wish to fully furnish all your homes/areas. Hope this tip is useful.

- Another way to Bypass this limit size is this: http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/132/?

Follow the directions to permenantly set your size limit to 0, regardless of how much you build. Unlimited building.

-If you drop junk on the ground for displaying/decorating purposes, go into workshop mode and you can select them and move them around easier than the old method of holding down the action button and moving them. This works for almost every surface, except where it is most needed, the store shelves.

-The tier 3 trader kiosks don't fit under a 1 story roof, you'll need to make a second story above them.

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Management:

Settlements depending on their size seem to have a "maximum" size they can hold. (Not confirmed yet). However, Sanctuary seems to be nearly limitless (again not confirmed yet).

To help quicken settlers to Santuary, the largest area to build by far, you can set up every other Settlement to be able to safely defend, and grow to their maximum size. When they reach close to, or their max, you can tell some of the settlers to move to another settlement.

Once you own 5+ settlements, going to each of them every few days, and sending 5+ settlers to Sanctuary can quickly make Sanctuary a big metropolis.

- There is a perk for Settlements. The first level allows you to setup supply lines between them, ultimately sharing your resources between Settlements. Don't over look this!

- Settlers who are not assigned to anything, will automatically savange for extra building materials.

- Settler Cap per settlement is 10+1 point/cha...meaning the effective settlement limit is 21.

- Sending a settler to another settlement creates a "trade Route" between them, or a connection. This connection shares resources automatically between the settlements once setup. Use this with new settlements, by sending a settler from an already established one, to the new settlement for instant access to all of your stored junk.

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Here is a good guide for more information on making Settlements: http://steamcommunity.com/app/377160/discussions/0/496881136908336046/?tscn=1447809035

[Scolexis]

My Sanctuary has been capped at 18 settlers for about 20 hours now, same with Starlight Drive. Does the settler cap go over that? or am I doing something wrong.

[Hakke]

i thought you cant have more than 20 settlers

[Flaminski]

Can you build more than 2 floors?

[Spocks Toupee]

Thanks for the tips, after seeing one particular farm built around a high tension tower, I've been thinking of making Sanctuary one big structure with catwalks etc, instead of individual houses

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Scolexis:

My Sanctuary has been capped at 18 settlers for about 20 hours now, same with Starlight Drive. Does the settler cap go over that? or am I doing something wrong.

I heard settler cap is 10+1 point per charisma, so do you have 8 in charisma?

[Astaldo]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Originally posted by Scolexis:

My Sanctuary has been capped at 18 settlers for about 20 hours now, same with Starlight Drive. Does the settler cap go over that? or am I doing something wrong.

I heard settler cap is 10+1 point per charisma, so do you have 8 in charisma?

Yes, Settler Cap per settlement is 10+1 point/cha...meaning the effective settlement limit is 21.

[Mr.Hmm]

Make a Guide its better that way since everything will be categorized and sorted.

[Holy Athena]

Added the settler cap limit :)

[Alastair]

We need to make this sticky.

[Clint Eastwood]

Just a few more tips and things I've enjoyed.
Building
1) Set up your walls first, it may cost a lot and take time, but it's worth it.
2) Set up turrets to guard an entrance or two.
3) Sometimes one settlement can, in ways, guard another. e.g. gas station outside sanctuary.
4) Build generators, they power sooo much stuff! Plus the airplane engine windmills are cool!
*5*) It is important to try to retain enough beds, food and water at ALL TIMES! Defenses are only worth something if there is something to defend.

Exploring
1) The world is captivating and immersive. Fear not the inrtigue that would deter you from your main goals, for indulgence is always profitable in one way or another.
2) Even if you don't have high science, read everything that you can on the computer teminals, not only will it provide useful information at times, but it can unlock map locations and more!
3) Save OFTEN! I can't stress this enough. Usually by the time I finish my first fallout playthrough I have like 600-1000 saved games lol. Maybe that's a bit much, but saving your game saves your life! Have a second chance at that Deathclaw without hassle!
4) Talk to people. Even town guards mention interesting map locations. You would be amazed who you run into and the valuable information/goods/quests they share!
5) Just have FUN! Fallout 4 has no one way of winning or playing, thus, we should embrace the many playstyles it allows for! Don't let popular or suggested decisions guide you, do what YOU want!

I have so much more that I could say about this game, and I am sure that I will at some point soon. For now, the wasteland calls. I answer this call with a straight face as my heart smirks with anticipation. In this chaos, I shall thrive. Have fun everyone! Have a Happy Fallouting!

[Freeze]

Do companion counts as a population? I have a charisma of 9, and once my settlement hits 19 pop, I can no longer send my companion there. Do I have to keep it as 18 to be able to send my all of my companion to this particular settlement?

[Astaldo]

Great questions. Was wondering this myself.

[Clint Eastwood]

I believe that companions do count as population, but I don't think that you do. Also if a companion is just following you, passing through a settlement of yours, it may not add them to the population in that case.

[Tanchyon]

Don't forget you can scrap nearly everything in build mode. Just walk around scrapping all those trees and cars and tires to add to your stockpile. I know a lot of people already know this, but its surprising how many dont.

[Clint Eastwood]

I also wanted to let out a secret, and I hope that it stays as it is. There is currently a way to bypass the item cap limit of settlements. Follow these steps:

1) Go to a settlement, go into your workshop screen and pull up the item which you wish to place. Press ESC to exit when you have it highlighted.

2) Go to your inventory, and drop a piece of junk onto the ground in your settlement. Any junk will do.

3) Go back to your workshop screen, and destroy the item you just dropped for materials. Before doing so, be sure that you have the item you wish to make highlighted (and have all the components).
You can repeat this process as needed, hope this helps! I know it helps me a ton! Was so happy to figure this little trick out. I just hope that they don't change it, I like violating the settlement item cap and putting tons of stuff in there. It is really necessary if you wish to fully furnish all your homes/areas. Hope this tip is useful.