Half of my reasons for loving this game so much are the settlement features. I've got about 230 hours in the game, and probably close to half of that time has been spent building my settlements. Earlier today I spent two hours tearing down a building in Sanctuary and rebuilding a better one to turn into an all purpose market place with all of the level 3 merchant stands. Aside from the bar anyway. That gets its own building. The new building is a two story building. The first floor consists of different stalls for all of the merchant stands (clothing, armor, weapons, trading post, and medic). The second floor is currently empty, but it's going to be turned into a bunk house for the merchants themselves so they only have to walk down the stairs to get to work in the morning.

85% like the idea of settlements and want more content... That's an insanely large portion of the players. Bethesda would be crazy not to include more depth to settlements in a patch or minor dlc. I would buy a dlc with settlement expansion in a heartbeat. The FIXES and management improvements should be 100% free though and in an update; not a dlc.

There is so much they can do with expanding the settlements. I think some people that voted they liked it, but don't expand it are thinking of a DLC that is essentially a furniture pack. It doesn't have to be. Any DLC should contain a few more items, but a proper settlement DLC would could essentially create unlimited gameplay.

Insanely large portion of the players? The game sold 12 millions copies, and you would make decision based on a few vocal forum voters? I don't mind if other people get more bob the builder, just don't make the game revolve around it.

It is a sample size of Fallout fans.. I don't think it is biased. There are people here that HATE it as well. I bet if you asked the population over 75% would say they enjoyed the settlement aspect of the game or at least like the ability to make a customized player home. By the way players since Morrowind have been begging Bethesda for home building and options such as settlements and they are the overwhelming majority... I have followed this aspect for many years.

I don't think this forum really represents a biased sample. I've seen tons of threads on here about how much the settlement system svcks, how it's a waste of time, how it isn't Fallout anymore, how they didn't buy Fallout 4 to play post-nuclear Sims and other such complaints. I've also seen plenty of people post about how much they absolutely love settlements.

There are people who don't care for it, and that's fine. The good thing is that it's mostly optional.

It's pretty good, but needs some fixing. The mechanics and interface need work, and they need to slow down the go and protect, and kidnapped settler raidiant qests. Sometimes it's hard to get anything done they pop up so often. And I'm also getting tired of fighting 50 raiders at corvega and the quarry

Yes and yes.

1. Let me name my settlers and/or let me assign a job title alongside their name.

2.I would like to have an inventory screen for my settlement crops, personnel, defense, and housing. Specifically, I'd be cool to manage the weapon types and ammo of all settlement guards on screen. This could be linked to what you have stored in your workbench.

3. Manequines - I'd like to have a place to display some armor as in Skyrim. Just look to the Skyrim dlc...

Overall I like the settlements aspect a lot. It could even add to the RPG aspect if we had a karma or reputation gauge within the game (management choices affect reputation score).

I feel FO4 has so many outstanding ingredients to work with...but it needed a much bigger team to make sure each aspect worked well with each other and thus maximized the potential of the entire game.

FO4 is still extremely fun but seeing everything bethesda had to offer made me a little disappointed that a bigger team wasn't used to perfect the great ideas/aspects they sold. This game could have been so much better. I will still pour 100+ hours into it, but it could have been 300+.

8/10

The settlements are a nice addition, but I want Beth to concentrate on new content. The community will do a better job of making settlements more in-depth.

I really like settlements, though I think they missed out on some things to really push it over the top.

1) Ability to share a settlement you made with someone else who then could put it in their game.

Or

2) What they could have done with Settlements is created a whole strategy layor game with making moves across the map vs. Other Factions that could also take over your settlements and/or burn them to the ground.

Seriously this could have been about moving like a few squads of Minute Men around the map VS. say other little armies. Complete with Random good or bad events for settlements.

Toss in some more Role Play opportunities and actually have to maneuver a few patrols around between key suppley lines while aiming to take over districts from Super Mutants and Raiders while opposing Brotherhood of Steel and Institute Forces are doing the same...

100% agree on your point #2...

I don't know if it would necessitate a big DLC, but I'd like to see a "bonus" patch that improves some of the mechanics.

I'd really like to see a way to assign Settlers from one menu instead of tracking them all down or waiting for them to meander over after ringing the bell (which always feels like trying to get my dog in from the back yard.)

I've seen a whiteboard where you just assign tasks from suggested - I think that would work really well.

Making Settlers easier to manage in general with an actual UI for them would be nice.

Also was surprised not to see an option for weapon and armor displays. Mannequins are already an object that exists after all. Would love to be able to hang weapons on the tool racks too.

Probably better decorating options too - just making it less finnicky to place smaller items.

Since when? No prior Fallout game has been about rebuilding the world or even parts of it. They are all based on survival in a harsh world, be it for a water-chip to save your particular village or because you got thrown out of the vault because of your fathers actions etc. etc. But none, have been about rebuilding the world, before FO4.

I have a Playstation 4 so modding isn't possible at the moment.

Not a fan

I avoid Preston like the plaque
I think he is the worst thing to happen to the feature, constantly sending me to create new ones. Hey, i'm trying to murder hobo here!

Its going to ruin RP Fallout franchise....

They can build a new strategy fallout series or a fallout simulation series around settlement building, if they want......if done right it may be successful

That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works.

When I first heard the name of the place I figured it was supposed to be symbolic and have a huge impact on the game itself. When I left Vault 111 and reached it though..

If they made the settlements actually mean something then I would have supported the function post-launch, but so far it's how I pictured it would be pre-launch.

They could have allowed the PC to build their own faction to be designed in their own image. Throughout the game you could make choices that ended up shaping your PCs image and the faction they would like to establish. The nukes wiped away the PCs home and identity but Sanctuary Hills could have been the site for the character to "begin again".

A sanctuary for sin and carnal desires; A sanctuary away from mutants; A sanctuary for mutants and the unwanted; etc.

Edit: My main point is that this didn't have to be the simple dump for people hoarding junk. They could have made it significant and had some serious choices, consequences and RPG mechanics (the Sims ain't the RPG I'm talking about here).

I've got too much invested into the castle right now I would love for them to expand it.

In fact if they made it so much much more, I would store all the materials for the settlement, and start over...that [censored] literally svcks your life...it's addicting.

Minecrack man.

No, not happy with settlements, but yes to expanding it since at this point they can't double back and scrap it.

The reason I say no to the former poll question is because out of the 30 or so settlements we have to build, few are actually worth the time/resource investment. Additionally, the whole concept of settlements really detracts from the potential of more interesting locations/towns/villages.

At this point, I'd rather have a Little Lamplight 2 than another spot to build a settlement in, because at least the former will offer something unique to the Commonwealth, rather than another generic location with dinky shacks cobbled together inhabited by characterless settlers that can only [censored] and moan about raiders and super mutants.

Well in its current state Settlements are still pretty darn cool as before now anyone on a console instead of a Personal Computer never had the option to download a Player Made Home like I have with all Bethsada games or even the ability to say make one in the game.

The big advantage of the computer was being able to put pieces of Player Made Content into the game and for one Player Homes and Hideouts are seriously mad popular. I cant see how this detracted from the game so much for some people as if nothing else you can put a Player Haven in any District of the game tailored to your specifications...You seriously can just ignore distress calls if that side of the game isn't your thing and you don't have to populate every scrap of land in the game.

So basically its a shame that so many just don't see that it does offer a lot...

You can ignore the SIM part, build yourself a fort, don't populate it, and never be bothered by settlement quests.

You are partially correct, although the first two had an ending. What do you think would have logically happened if you could have continued playing? FO3 originally had an end in as well, that was changed because people wanted to do more after. This new feature gives a lot to do after.

It's like watching paint dry.

Settlement building is ok. I enjoyed it at first but now it just feels too overwhelming and too time consuming. I hate how basic it is.

-Hate how I cant fix roofs on pre-war houses

-Hate how I cant add doors to pre-war houses

-Hate adding stuff to shelves since it never properly centers and just ends up floating.

-Sunshine Tidings could have been a cool settlement but unfortunately the re-spawning corpses kills it.

-Only single beds

-Cant assign settlers to their own houses/beds, why does MARCY LONG GO TO MY PRE-WAR HOUSE TO SLEEP?

-Most settlements dont have a source of water for water purifiers...

Cant think of anymore at the moment but I also hate visiting the castle because the stupid minuteman radio always gives me the same 2 generic quests of defending aberthany farm from raiders or disposing ghouls for sanctuary hills.

they tune it a bit my biggest gripe w/ it is having to manually break down junk like fuses for copper & such back at my AOE so I can have copper st another location I am personally hoping the add a breakdown all to the workbench