I've not done anything on settlements yet so want to give it a go.My charisma is low so can someone suggest to me any settlements that have the armor and weapon benches already there? Ideally more central than Sanctuary or the Red Rocket?

I'm looking forward to giving it a go.

Hangmans alley is easy to defend and has a weapon bench. The island settlement place has multiple crafting stations and pre connected power. It is very huge.

I'm looking good to start a second settlement soon, want about 5 large ones spread across the map, red rocket is my first https://youtu.be/smgkYRajwnY, castle will be done but the other three not sure yet. The alley sounds good, but need to do more exploring really. Am I right in thinking there is 30 in total?

I second Hangman's Alley. It's a central location that is very enclosed and comes with its own pre-built walls. It only has a weapon bench and cooking station, but Diamond City is only just down the road to suit your armor crafting and trading needs.

Thanks Might do hangman. I really need an armor bench in the same place so I will have to have to build one I guess.

My reason is have a shed load of junk which I cannot be bothered transferring constantly

You can make crafting stations

Are there any requirements to do so ie charisma or science?

Yes but I can't confirm which, as I'm at work. They have to do with certain perks though, maybe local leader.

I'm at work too that's why I'm asking dumb questions lol

I'm thinking ahead for my 6 hour session I have planned later

A certain fort which is part of a quest. Lots of water around it so it makes for a good place to farm purified water.

There was another one which I accidently stumbled across on a previous game that had lots of ground to farm and a good location near water and was fairly defensible. I just wish I had paid attention to what it was named and where it was because now that I am actually building up settlements in this game I really want to find it.

I have seen people on other forums suggest Starlight but I don't find it that great. Very little ground for farming and its on the outside edges so you have to walk a bit to collect crops. It only has one spot for getting water and its far enough away that you have to spread out your defenses more.

Second perk in Local Leader.

Thats what I thought! Thanks for confirming.

Thanks. Looks like i will have to wait a bit as I've only got 3 charisma

I'm not a big fan of hangman's. You cannot clear out that annoying little nothing of a shack. While you can build up, up and up, there is no water source, so your pumps compete for dirt with crops. Now, if you don't care about population, and you do not unchain the one door, it is reasonably defensible, yes. But listening to gunfire from nearby conflicts makes it hard for me to sleep.

Exactly the issue for those who didn't happen to invest in Charisma, or Local Leader for that matter. But as I said, the convenience of Diamond City negates some of these issues for those who don't have the perk.

Definitely not the best place to build a full on settlement. But for someone who would prefer to live alone? I'd say its the perfect confined spot. Even then though, I've seen a lot of crazy things people have done to make it a successful settlement.

I'd say its only flaw for me is the pre-built shack that can't be removed. Why it's like that, I will never understand.

My favourite settlement is the island.. a whole flipping island to craft. That's Bethesda's way of saying "you've completed the game, now go off and go full-on Minecraft" lol