I'm thinking of emptying the nearby settlements, such as Abernathy Farm and Tenpines Bluff, and transferring all the people/resources to Sanctuary. The reason being my plans to build Sanctuary very large, and I don't want to have to look after smaller nearby settlements as well. Are there any downsides to moving everything into Sanctuary?

I just left those 2 settlements as they were and never had to worry about them again. I dont think you can move the Abernathy's anyway.

Some "native" settlers cannot be moved...like the Abernathy Family on the farm of the same name.

I've found a couple pretty near to sanctuary or at least I think they are. One was a pretty neat place in a scrapyard that had ghouls and a programmable protectron unit in it but I can't seem to find a workbench bench anywhere.

There are only 30 settlements with workshops.

They can be found on this map: http://www.fallout4map.com/

Oh hmmm maybe its not a settlement then. Dang oh well. it had all the other work stations and the protectron even had a construction setting on it.

The big problem is that there is a limit to what you can build (I hit it REALLY fast) so you can't really build a good sized community. Mine seem to hit 17/18 and that is the max. And has others have said, some can't be moved.

To be honest I am getting sick of the settlements because they keep calling me back with the same problem over and over no matter how much defences I put around the place.... and why the frack do I have to report back to Preston EVERY DARNED TIME THAT I COMPLETE A MISSION WHEN I AM THE SODDIN GENERAL... It seems an unnecessary step to complete each mission in my mind and every time I report in he has another settlement that can't do squat again... I had this one mission three times on the trot from the Abernathy Farm.. I was soooooooooooo close to just going over there and putting them out of their misery because they couldn't defend themselves from THREE RAIDERS EVEN WHEN THEIR FARM IS SURROUNDED WITH HEAVY TURRETS... grrrr.

Yeah... I was really looking forward to the settlement system but it just is the same missions on repeat, repeat, repeat. And then when I am trying to do the story I keep getting messages that I have failed missions... Being a General you should be able to delagate people to defend sites but it doesn't seem to stop the settlements getting people kidnapped or raided or respawning enemies in places you cleared out five minutes ago.

Yup... good game but the settlement system svcks.

You hardly need to build anything to accomidate 18 people... I've got 4-5 beds per house in sanctuary and use the existing houses that are there for all except my place. I built some small settlements elsewhere, my largest being in Red Rocket where I built it on the roof, and surprisingly yes the settlers do climb the steps where I have them and sleep in the beds and even walk out onto the roof.

Plus there is a limit on the amount of settlers you can have. But otherwise there's no downside of moving settlers to sanctuary until it's full. If you found the build limit (amount of objects that can be placed) annoying there's an easy fix - http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/818/?. It has worked fine for me without any side effects, unless you start going really overboard and strain the system. There's a limit for a reason, but the limit they put in is way to low imo, you can place way more without experience any issues.

I'm on Xbox One unfortunately...

Ah, damn it. That svcks...

The build limit is really annoying, for some settlements more than others. Forr the castle for an example I just had enough to patch up the holes in the walls and build up gate/defences but nothing more to actually build inside the fort. So I downloaded that.

But have you hit the limit for sanctuary? I currently have 17 people in sanctuary and I've built quite a bit without enabling the console command to expand the limit. Sanctuary got quite alot of useless items you can scrap to increase the limit and seems you have to build quite alot to reach the limit there. So I guess it varies form settlement to settlement how much that limit restricts you.

I have two settlements with 17 in them. Sanctuary and Nordhagen Beach. Nordhaged looks like the village of the damned though because everyone is standing there staring at the Prydwen lol.

EDIT: Actually I just found another place... Outpost Zimonja has 15.... I didn't check on it because it has a radio tower icon.

Keep in mind that the population limit is Charisma +10. It won't go higher than that, so plan accordingly.

Ahh... I'm at CHR 7 so that makes sense that 17 is my max.

Temporary boosts to charisma also affect the number...like wearing clothes with +charisma will add extra settlers, until you take the clothing off.

It happened to me...and confused the shart outta me too.

Speaking of Temp Stat boosts...if you have a temp boost that brings one of your SPECIALs up to ten when you pick up the "You're Special" book it will not allow you to assign the point to that stat...just a bonus tip.

Yeah... that makes sense... I think I was wearing Patrolman Shades (+1 CHR) when I saw the 18 at Sanctuary.

Also one thing has really confused me. I send a few of my settlers on supply runs... and it still lists them as being in the settlement that I sent them from... even if they are on the other side of the map heh.

Even a traveling trader needs a hometown...not that we ever give them time off to enjoy it. *evil grin*

I have maxed out Sanctuary and The Castle at 21 settlers and everywhere else has 3-6 settlers. If you want more settlers. Build Radio Beacons on every one. You'l; have plenty to max out Sanctuary. There are no down sides to more settlers. Stores gain more income the more setters you have so its good to have more