So I've paused my storyline gameplay to get my settlements in order. I've scoured the web and these forums for tips, got a lot of useful info but need more specific advice on how to best defend my settlement? ( Regarding layout, defenses).

A. This is in regards to being physically there. I am aware not being present during an attack means auto fail and destruction of resources regardless of my D.

B. Settlers are (in the process) of getting better gear (armor, weapons) when I get more worthwhile stuff.

1. Seems enemies can/will spawn within the settlement. So does this mean perimeter walls are useless? I built Sanctuary mostly wall-less, instead I made scattered "security towers" with tons of turrets. I did this bc the area is huge, didn't want to hit the build limit, and also aesthetically didn't want that to be a "fortress." Should I do something similar to other settlements?

1b. Working off the above. Is there a point to walling in anything (such as generators?). My thought was to wall off purifiers and generators to keep them from being destroyed. However if I'm absent they'll be destroyed regardless of my D. If I'm present, seems enemies will attack people first (only been attacked a few times and never failed those) rather than resources. Also seems like attacks while the player is present are usually/easily defended. So, are all walls effectively useless?

2. For effective D, seems like turrets are the only thing worthwhile (traps I haven't tried but have a feeling he AI/pathing will make them useless too). If so, what's the most effective turret (not D rating, but how well it actually kills stuff). I've read that heavy laser turret and missile turret are best. Anyone with knowledge can comment?

3. Anyone have experience with the enemy spawn points in/around Nordhagen beach (where my "RPing beach house" is)? There's one near the small existing shack towards the main road (definite) and a suspected one towards the SE (away from the mainland, closer to water than the road).

My goal is to have an aesthetically pleasing homestead, some "realism" (to its look) but also effective D against raids. I won't have perimeter walls bc they don't keep the enemy out and only worsen my D's line of sight. I will likely have some walls/fencing for aesthetic purposes. I will likely have a few walls, mostly to funnel enemies towards my turret towers (which is why the spawn points would be helpful).

I've hit my build limit for N Beach which is why I figure I'll get rid of some of the ineffective stuff (trying to glitch away the built limit as little as possible). Thanks for any help/tips!

I noticed this to, but walls do work, but i have started to put a "central building" with beds, etc and on the roof i put defense weapons, seems to work really well, also do NOT forget to give your settlers better armour and weapons... (Do not forget to give them 1 ammo of the weapon type you gave them or they will revert to the old [censored] pipe crap weapon.

A good idea is to place the siren near a generator defended by turrets, then settlers will assemble at the siren and have maximum backup from all the turrets (as well as contribute to keeping enemies away from your generator).

I also like to place a spotlight turret with each group of attack turrets (I use heavy laser turrets), so that it'll track enemies (easier to fire at if you can see them).

I've found that the siren only sounds after the fighting has stopped, and the siren-sounder has finished reacting to enemies.

One thing I will say with absolute certainty: Don't try to use mines. Some idiot settler will always set them off.

Pretty much the same for using booby traps...some idiot walks through the laser and deactivates it.

The trip-laser traps were a great idea, for a game with better AI or settler management.

Not in my game, the siren goes off even during passing attacks (not defend missions) and settlers gather around and go on the defensive.

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/5787/?.

missile turrets, lots of them

Missile turrets are best used for external defense, you don't want settlers caught in the blast.

Aim them so they can not shoot into the camp.

For the guns and lasers I prefer to put them for interlocking fire so they can also shoot into the settlement.

have to look at the siren, sounds like an good idea.

I only put down walls and other defensive structures down for aesthetics. To make it somewhat realistic/immersive that a settlement could be defensible.

For actual defense I just concentrate turrets in a few spots with reasonable fov, creating zones with crossfire as much as possible. And naturally, better gear for the settlers.

But since the player had to be present for an effective defense there's two other considerations: moving the fast travel marker to a sheltered place and placing of light sources in darker areas.

It's often necessary to fast travel to be in time to take part in the fight. I got insta-murdered enough to have made it a habit to move the fast travel marker.

Edit:
For turrets I normally stick to either machine guns or lasers. Missiles are awesome for taking out things externally but when they can fire into your settlement they can cause collateral harm to your settlers, or worse, you.

Also, it seems to make a difference how high the defence rating is versus the combined resources. It seems to get less likely that an attack may take place the higher the difference. (Though that could be a placebo, I don't know.)

Not sure if this is a PC only thing, or if it has been fixed since the patch, but dropping junk in your settlement and then scrapping it manually increases the settlement build limit.

As to defending a settlement.
I started off with good intentions, building walls making things logically defensible but after many raids where they just swarm as fast as possible and then realising that all that planning only has an effect if I'm present (If the character is not there then it's auto fail ) and if I'm there the settlement doesn't need defenses!

While I didn't mind at first, after all I can rip through a raider camp in minutes stripping out all the turrets and mines, I hadn't realised just how frequent and easy it is to miss settlement warnings. I've lost count of the number of times I'll turn up at a settlement to find most of the defences, crops and water pumps in ruins.

I have a basic bunkhouse design now that gets built in all settlements. Turrets in the corners. If it's a large area then I may put in a stand alone pillar with four turrets on top.

Thanks for the tips! I haven't yet tried the siren (I assumed it "activated" settlers but didn't cluster them) but if I can get them to group near turrets, that's a plus I'll give that a try.

My last attack was before I was able to build missile turrets, I have them now but makes sense to point them "out.". My turrets are usually built on a tower (3 concrete blocks high, 4 turrets on top, then I add 2 of the 1/4 size floor boards jutting out from the 2nd block and place a turret on each). May need to revamp this a bit to fit a large generator in there somewhere now that I need power.

The spotlights with each group of turrets also a great idea, will add that in too. Same goes with the fast travel marker; a problem thus far is traveling there then running around in circles trying to figure where the bad guys are; if I can warp to a central, height advantaged spot that will help (spotlight will help here too).

I am aware of the workshop scrapping exploit to reduce the build limit. Haven't tried since the patch; I'd like to use it as little as possible to avoid crashes.

Lastly I'm on xb1 so no mods for me.

I currently have 6 settlements at different stage of construct from "ignore for now" (Sanctuary) to "decorate with finishing touches" (Tenpines). For aesthetic reasons I like to enclose my settlement with walls. I have done this with Tenpines, Outpost Zimonja and Abernathy Farm. Tenpines and Outpost Zimonja are close to being finished, but I still need to finish up Zimonja's living area. Abernathy Farm simply has the perimeter wall and turrets. There is still plenty of construction work to be done.

Based on my experience, raiders spawn outside so the perimeter wall is pretty effective in those settlements. However, there is a problem of settlers running out of the settlement to attack raiders (especially at Tenpines). That basically negates a lot of the defenses I have setup within the settlement who's sole purpose is to defend against raiders who makes it past the gate. At Zimonja and Abernathy raiders must pass through a gauntlet of turrets to make it into the "inner courtyard" of the settlement. Tenpines is so small that once past the main gate the raiders are basically within what I consider the primary part of the settlement.

Graygarden was only attacked once and the raiders spawned outside of the settlement itself, but there could be spawn points within the settlement itself. I started to build a perimeter wall, but it is not completed yet. Kinda disappointed that my settlers spawns at the very top of the overhanging highway so they are pretty much useless for defending Graygarden. I might assign them somewhere else because of that.

Over at Starlight Drive I simply have a couple of industrial water purifiers that are walled in and protected by turrets. No perimeter wall at this point in time yet because there are no settlers there. I simply go there once in a while to collect water to be sold.

Sanctuary... I haven't really done much there... I did build a 3 story "fortress" but I don't like the way it looks so I plan on tearing it down and starting fresh. I have placed around 18 turrets on top of houses to defend against raiders. Building a perimeter wall completely around Sanctuary is a bit daunting because the settlement area is very large. It seems I would need to devote more raw material than I have used so far at all my other settlements combined just to build the perimeter wall in Sanctuary and even more to build the settlement itself. I know there are spawn point within Sanctuary but I am building for aesthetic reasons. I am pretty sure that once the GECK is released there will be a mod to move all spawn points out of all the settlements.

I have been there in person on survival mode to see a group of 8-10 raiders come down the hill north of Starlight Drive-In, only to run right into the walls there with nowhere to go and get slaughtered by all the turrets, dying still outside the walls. Your settlers will still rush outside your walls to get shot.

On the other hand, I've had a Yao Gui spawn inside Sanctuary and shake a settler like a rag-doll right next to me when I fast-travel arrived, so I'm not convinced there's much point in building all the walls up.

As far as turrets are concerned, I have only been installing the heavy machine gun turrets. They are pretty cheap to build (not a lot of resources needed) and they require no power so they can be placed anywhere.

Last night while I was modding some weapons in Sanctuary I heard the turrets fire on something. I figured raiders were attacking so I ignored them and continued to mod. I wasn't done until after fighting had ended. I went out to see what all the commotion was about and saw the bodies of two dead deathclaws.

Debending if you want to play with the mechanic of settlement defense, there is either a mod to make them cause a message window when you get the info, so it's impossible to miss, or a mod to stop the defense things from happening.

Best way I've found is to not have any settlers. As long as you do your own harvesting you still get the benefits but you don't have to worry about any of the other junk.

Having your defense higher than food plus water helps lower the chance of attacks. Having defense equal food plus water is not enough. The higher it is compared to food plus water, the less frequent the attacks are. And that helps when you are away from the settlement. When you are away, sometimes you are notified of an attack, but sometimes you are not (a possible bug), and you end up with ruined crops and water pumps and damaged turrets. So don't stop collecting junk, because you will keep having to do repairs. But having defense much higher than food plus water lowers the chance of that happening. My defense is usually twice the sum of food and water. If F and W is 12 and 12, my D is 45 or so. In the last 10 hours of gameplay, I've had unseen attacks that caused me repairs maybe only once or twice. Like others have said, when I'm actually at my settlement, the attacks are usually easily dealt with and very few repairs are needed. But when you are not there, the game can't seem to duplicate that success. The game apparently doesn't have a realistic simulation of combating attacks when you are not there, and they almost always end up with plenty of ruined resources and turrets.

I'm nearing the end of this play-through. Finished the main quest line and unlocked 27 of the 30 settlements, just about to go on and unlock the last 3.

My next play-through is going to be settlement light
I try to avoid mods in the early days, I use them more to get different experiences as the years go by. Still playing Skyrim

That's not been my experience. Sanctuary Hills has always had a significant boost to its defense rating compared to the combined food and water, and yet it gets attacked fairly frequently by a wide variety of foes such as lone raiders, radscorpions and super-mutants.
If it's tied to a random number generator it may just be down to being an outlier.

What would have been interesting is to tie in the population of nearby sites to potential attacks. If you take efforts to keep the local raider sites empty then there are less attack, over time these sites would restock and grow stronger (maybe potential for a future mod). Most settlements seem to be under direct observation from raider/gunner outposts.

Best strategy I've used to to put missile turrets pointing to the exterior of the settlement, while have machine gun turrets point on the inside in case they just so happen to spawn inside.

Since I've made a solid wall around the settlement, only accessible by the main entrance, enemy spawns on the inside have not happened.

Check your wall and see if there's a point you can walk through it.

This should have been in the vanilla game . Wish I was on pc

It seems perimeter walls are useless. I've had raiders spawn inside the greenhouse at greentop nursery. I go with the tower defense model. Plus a few inside places like the greenhouses.

That's really interesting, because Sanctuary Hills is probably my least attacked site. I get radscorpion, raider, and mutant attacks too, but in no way would I consider them frequent. And that's including both seen and unseen attacks. I have 9 settlers there, and my food, water, and defense are 11, 15, and 45.

Do you place your turrets high up, like on an elevated platform, so they can see farther away? My turrets at County Crossing are put above a 2-story structure, and they can see and shoot at as far as the turrets over at National Guard Training Yard! When I'm at a settlement, sometimes I see my settlers spotting enemies very far away, and that, I think, is because the turrets are able to spot them far away.

As I said, my biggest headache are those unseen, unnotified attacks that leave me plenty to repair. But those have decreased, because I think the attacks overall have decreased.

Walls can help, but not always. Enemies can spawn within the walls. I walled the entire perimeter of the starlight drive-in. I then put a few raised platforms inside the walls with turrets and stairs. All the wall really did was set the location for the most intense fighting. I did have an open gate and enemies would often try to move through there, so as a pinch point that sort of worked. But most battles just occur where my raised platforms are located. The enemies rage at the turrets and the settlers gather on the platform to fire back.

I've also setup turrets just randomly and can't really tell a difference in defense performance compared to the the settlements I've walled off.

On a PC? Perhaps you could just drop in some droid defenses. http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/5787/?

EDIT: Blah! Ristar beat me to it!

Just spam heavy machine gun turrets everywhere. Once you get to the point where you're bullying super mutants having the oil to do this won't be a problem.