Since I was getting annoyed with the frequent unending kidnappings, I decided to fortify the locations that are the most frequent targets.

When I got an alert of where the latest one was, after my brain rebooted, my first thought was: are you freaking kidding me!!!!!!

It was the Settlement I'd just upgraded:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=565735668

You can't see all the guns clearly, but there are 4 heavy machine gun turrets just behind the guard stations and 4 missile launchers above those, not counting the two armed guards occupying the posts.

The Defense rating for this site is 93, by the way.

Since I've fortified this location to ensure this is the only way in, any enemy who tried to enter this Settlement would be chewed to shreds before they even got anywhere near the Settlers!

It defies logic that they just walked in, abducted someone and had the time to issue a ransom demand in person without being shot to megadeath.

Nor does this stop those random missions about some location or other needing to be cleared because the Settlers are concerned about a potential attack.

The only thing it seems to stop is the random Settlement attacks, often by the time I've fast travelled to where the alert is, all I see is the Settlers just strolling around after a firefight has obviously been concluded.

If I'm lucky, I'll see the end of the battle.

I am now thinking the game is running a script to make the location clearing and kidnapping missions happen regardless of how well you fortify any given location.

I assume the reason is because if you haven't kept all the locations clear of enemies, it is reminding you that they are returning to that area and sending you there to clear it out again (for probably the 10th time or more!).

Obviously, I don't want to waste my time clearing out every minor instance in the map just to keep some scripted event from happening!

Can I just ignore the clearing missions from now on?

That is, without incurring some negative effect I may not be aware of?

At least the kidnapping ones are easy to solve, I pay the ransom and be on my way.

Problem with your logic is that this is a game. I doubt there's anyone actually doing the kidnapping. No one has to get past your defenses; instead, the game moves the victim to the dungeon you need to clear, then spawns a guy to deliver a ransom note.

I agree that the whole event is annoying, and massively high defense levels should make it occur less often, if at all. Unfortunately, the game has decided that a kidnapping occurs at that settlement, and uses game logic, not real-world logic, to make it happen. It's like fortifying the bridge into Sanctuary, only to have enemies spawn near the fast-travel point. Annoying and immersion-breaking, yes, but also a side-effect of it being a game.