God, I have spent the entire day, from about 6: 00 am to 3:30 pm PST, trying to build Sanctuary into a defensible compound and I have barely put a dent into it. All this happy trial and error [censored]. Fighting with fences, floors, roofs and walls. Jesus Christ! How the heck is this fun? It boggles the mind.

It wouldn’t be so bad if everything went where you wanted it to go, but red is an ugly color. I hate to say this, but I am losing interest in this game in a very big and bad way. I should have had that compound built in an hour, instead of only being half done after nine hours. Nine hours of extremely frustrating work. And, that is the problem. It feels more like a bad chore than a fun game.

I agree about red being very frustrating but it's satisfying once you've finished. There's a trick to placing large items, if you build a small floor mat (door mat size) and put an object on it (say a couch) then you can put it somewhere where the game recognizes the mat size, not the couch.

When you first start it can be quite frustrating. Once you get more experience with knowing how to fiddle things in place it goes much faster. I was so frustrated when I first started I ended up scrapping everything I tried to build. I flopped down some prefab shacks, tossed some beds inside n called it quits. A couple youtube videos and a couple weeks more experince with the editor and now I can get pretty much whatever I want done when I'm in build mode. Doesn't take all day either.

I tried that. It doesn't work for me.

In my experience and with my particular taste I get the best results with laying out a level foundation using the floors with concrete or wood pillars support underneath and then build from there.

As opposed to fencing in everything, I'm instead just building defensible towers with protected sleeping quarters and pretty much all needed except for eg. farming and water inside or on top. Covering as much territory as possible with turrets.

It works for me, I was able to put my sods and milk machine flush with each other this way.

Well, I have watched some of those videos too and I am still having issues. And, of course, there is no hope of Bethesda fixing those issues either. You can't interlock those concrete walls either. You can't even partition off a room. Or, at least I can't. I just as soon go around and set up settler beacons and be done with it. Let those idiots build their own settlements. Little wonder why Cait has such a negative attitude towards others. Still, I am happy to hear that you have a handle on and I don't. Thanks for point that out too.

I have been playing since day one and I am still having difficulty. I guess being old is more of a detriment and a liability when it comes to playing Fallout 4. Only the young have a handle on it. They are so much smarter that I and their analytical skills are so much sharper. But I digress.

Then don't do it. Just plop down the minimum of beds, food and water so they'll shut up, and move on. You don't *have* to do it, there's enough goods littered in the game that there's no need to. I built a little bit each time I went home after a longer trek, there's no reason to do it all in one go.

Sanctuary is fairly easy, I made everyone bed down (all 20 people) in a single house. All the shops and farms are within sight of each other. I then coated the area in heavy machine guns. And every abandoned house has two heavy machine guns besides its entrance. (Incase someone strays into that area). The only fancy thing I did was build a walkway above the bridge (on my side). I then had that layered with more machine guns.

My settlers only mention that they feel safe, and the murdered the last group of raiders to come by.

it could be a be a lot better but it isn't that bad, we should be able to turn off snapping and allow clipping objects (separately at that, sometimes things that should fit to where its snapped are blocked by something) . on a related note, i'v figured out a great way to repair the castle walls, just stack foundations on top of each other

You definitely get the hang of it after a while. It doesn't help that (IMO) sanctuary is one of the worst settlements if you want to make a custom settlement because of all the houses and hedges that you can't demolish. I made my main base on Spectacle Island and not only is it beautiful, but it has an established power grid, it's really big, has a ton of empty space but also a few structures that are varied. Love it <3

I'm 43, it's not just the kids. I usually start with one of the wood foundation pieces when starting a new structure since the lower part clips through most things and most other build items will snap to it allowing me to get at least the floor done the size I want. Temporary ladders and/or stairs are a must because they allow you to come at things from different angles and place turrets where they'll be most effective. If I want some interior partitions I store (don't scrap you may use it later) a floor piece and use a pre fab or use prefabs where I want support beams or what have you. Sometimes it takes some serious tom foolery to get things into place but that comes more natural the more I goof around with the editor. Some corner prefabs will clip allowing you to close small gaps. I'd do some vids but I'm on an xboxone so it's not gonna happen unless I get a pc for xmas. Can't tell you how many resources I wasted trying to get my first decent structures built, but now I'm having a little too much fun with this part of the game. Just hope they improve functionality and add more building pieces in future patches.

My biggest issue is the size meter, I want to have no limitations to what I can build. I want to make it a fortress but I still want sensible and tasteful decorations and there isn't enough room. It frustrates both my girlfriend and I to no end

Everyone is talking about an editor. Is the kit out? Incidentally, I finally figured out that the trick with the floor mat only works on those idiot junk fences,

There is a way around that. Google it and build what you want.

The GECK isn't out yet, I was referring to the build mode. For some reason it just feels more natural to call it an editor, sorry.

I would like to make it my own as i play on the xbox one. I have no interest in making other players things. Just making my own unlimited place would really help.

I just wanted to get'er done and over with. But, the thought of having to build other settlements sickens me. I just as soon put up a beacon and be done with it. "You're on your own folks. I can't do everything for ya."

I was just confused, as always.

The best way to do it is to make it simple. I mean, if you really want to go crazy and build something magnificent then that's just going to take time. But you don't have to build anything magnificent. You don't even have to build a base at all... You can just let them wander around in misery without any beds. Doesn't affect anything in the game. The original residents of the settlements you discover can't be killed so you don't even have to worry about defending settlements.. And if you expect to be build a cool base at every single settlement prepare to be overwhelmed. There are a crap ton of settlements and some don't have enough scrap or room for you to build anything of importance..

Also.. unless you actually plan on going back and defending the settlement... everything you build is completely pointless because if you do not go back and defend it, the mission will fail. Defenses will be broken, crops will have been burned and non-original settlers will have died. However, the amount of defense a place has does seem to effect how often it is attacked... The more defense the less it seems to be attacked... sort of. I've never had sanctuary attacked. It has 88 defense. All other settlements have no defense. Some get attacked all the time, others do not. .. If it has no people it never gets attacked.

I made a 3 story tower with a launch pad on the roof on one of the foundations in sanctuary and haven't even walked all of my pa in yet. Think I have too many now. They're all lined up on the street. I knew from the star it wasn't defensible Nd they spawned in so didn't bother much.

The minimalist approach works too. Not every settlement needs to be a five star resort. All your settlers really want is food, water, a bed out of the rain, and security. This can be accomplished with prefab houses, add beds, plant some crops, get them water, throw up some turrets, done. I have several farming settlements where I built a big bunkhouse and added crops and access to water. Then I built some of those wood foundations around the property and placed heavy machine gun turrets on them and called it good. Settlements don't need walls around the property, or even fences. Good turret placement does all your defending for you.

um......my sanctuary doesnt even get attacked lol. i wouldnt worry about defence too much- after a certain point they wont even try hitting your city if it has a high D rating i think. That basically means walls, too many turrets, etc are all a waste of time so dont stress over it

I don't really have issues but then again, I am very utilitarian when it comes to settlements.

I build shacks, artillery so that I can have fire support, and whoever isn't farming is spending the rest of their miserable lives in my settlements with nothing but a scavenge station and a bed.