I always build one at each settlement because it seems like the right thing to do and assign a settler to it but what do they do? What do they achieve?

"It just works."

If you assign a settler to them they keep otherwise idle settlers occupied and add a bit of daytime movement to a settlement as the assigned settler walks about holding their gun.

While they are doing that a couple of junk items like wood, teddy bears, concrete, telephones and so on will appear in the Settlement workshop each 24 hour period.

There seems to be a cap on how many they will add so if you want the junk to keep accumulating you may need to empty the workshop periodically.

Also unassigned settlers can lead to reduced settlement happiness and scrap benches don't cost much to build.

However they can be damaged during settlement attacks and in my experience don't self repair, so it's best to check them out after an attack

Cheers for the help.


Sort of leads me to two other questions I have. I believe I have set up a (linear) supply line through all my settlements. What can I put in my workshop that will then be available at all settlements, is it just junk or can I add aid, weapons and apparel too?

Junk items, building materials and items used in crafting things are shared i believe.

Not things like wearable items and weapons, although if you leave weapons in the workbench settlers have been known to help themselves to them.

Also if while in the game you pause it and select help from the menu there are some help items beginning with wsh that answer some questions about this.

Junk and aid. But they will be available only when you build/craft/cook something.

So every unassigned settler produces scrap, that's great. And if you assign them to a scavenging station, they produce twice as much. But there's a catch. If you have too many scrap items in your settlement inventory, then your settler won't produce more scrap items. The limit is 100 + 5 * TotalPopulation. And what counts as a scrap item? Consult the LeveledList with id 26839.

ScavengeAmount = Productivity * (NumberOfUnassignedSettlers * DamageMult + 2 * NumberOfActiveScavengingStations)

Productivity = 0.25 + CurrentHappiness/100 * 0.75

https://www.reddit.com/r/falloutsettlements/comments/41key9/settlement_internals_explained/

Pretty much pointless. Besides being a decoration or something for a settler ta do. Tha settlement I stay at is full of stuff I put in there so I will never notice any tiny amounts they add. And other settlements seem to gather up items without one of these things.

Not pointless because they have a chance of adding rare junk too, like crystal, ballistic fiber, copper, aluminum, oil, and so forth. Even a couple of those every few days really helps out. And if you have a station at every settlement, then the effect is multiplied many times over.

The limit doesn't sound right to me.

My example:

I put Preston and his crew to sanctuary and left them there... didn't visit them for a long time. Scrapped some things, but didn't clean the place by far.

On my next visit i noticed:

- 82 globes

- 82 handcuffs

- 83 toycars

- 82 hubcaps

- 82 telephones

- more than 300 Oil

- plus some other things that i might have placed by scrapping

in there.

No way i put it in there... and that's a bit more than 100+5*5

I've even seen the occasional weapon or miscellaneous item scavenged and dropped into the workhouse by not-me.

Yeah the idea is, the people assigned to these are out looking for scrap and putting them in the scrap shelf....when in reality it's going into your workshop.

Damn! Now those are some busy settlers. Build those guys a pool table or something as a reward.

i sometimes find ammo in containers placed next to the workbench.. which i didn't put in. i never put ammo anywhere...

if it had happened a single time, i'd think i placed it there by mistake. but how should i place 5 rounds of 5.56 by mistake when i'm carrying thousands of them?

and it happens regularly that i find stuff in boxes i surely didn't place there...

it was quite some months i didn't visit them

I did not notice about junk. I have too much junk now to notice small changins, I will try to test it. But I noticed that my settlers also can loot killed enemies when I don`t do it myself. I just decided to trade with one of them and he has collected 6 short combat rifles and some legendary armor.

I had the same question in mind, so I emptied hangmen's alley workshop and put about 6 stations. The result was considerable.

Also I must say that I use those stations to give a settler something to do until I find a more important task for him.

Aid and weapons mods are shareable. I would imagine armor mods are shareable too, although I've never tried that.

PA mods are not shareable for some reason.

Wanted to investigate further so i connected my red rocket homebase to the other settlements (which it wasn't before) and started to transfer EVERYTHING from my few settlements there.

Game crashed on the second travel (don't had many crashes before)

Looks like i collected a bit too much *g*

After reload i was able to make the 900 pound "jump" to red rocket though

Hang on- did I read that bit about supply lines right?

So, is it theoretically possible to have a supply chain connecting every settlement to every other settlement in an A->B->C->D pattern, so that the exact same junk will be available at every workbench no matter where I am? Because this would simplify my life considerably (in the game, that is).

Yes, you can connect all settlements through supply lines, meaning you can build using the sum total of all your resources at any new settlement without having to move stuff around.

As for scrapping stations, I have around a hundred in my empire turning out scrap, and although it does not guarantee that I never run out on large constructions it does give me a reliable buffer before running out when I want to do touch ups. The biggest things it gives are bags of cement, which are great for buildings, but rather hard to find in the world for the amounts needed.

Keep everyone not specifically doing something else on a scavenging station and watch the junk flood in.

Yes- you need to empty them from time to time, but I don't see that 100+5*5 thing apply. My settlement workbenches seem to load up with a lot more than that.

ROFL

The game never explains the scavenging stations in this way, so one wouldn't know about this. Seems rather odd cause how they can add all those things where none of them are around.

well shouldn't be much of a shock since your companions do that as well

Never ran into this happening on my saves. Weird.

The scrap benches add stuff to your main workbench just like the food items and water you get from the farmers and the water pumps/purifiers. The more scrap benches you have the more your going to get. But it only puts things in once. More stuff will not appear until you empty it out. Just like the food and water.

I did a little test. I emptied out the main workbench and came back in a few days to see what was there. I then made a list of what was there and left the stuff in the workbench. The totals never changed over several trips back to that town.

Some one mentioned finding ammo in a ammo can that they had already looted. If it was a ammo can that was already there in the vanilla game they will respawn items in them. Same goes for safes and other containers. I don't salvage the chest in the one cabin at Sunshine Tidings Co op for this very reason. Every now and then I come back to find goodies in it for me to take.