I have a small, heavily guarded and ridiculously fortified base in the middle of spectacle island, and my companions together with settlers prefer to hang out all over the island. Is there any way, other than assigning them to shops, farms and guard posts, to make them actually use the infrastructure I made for them, instead of just walking around the shores and looking in the distance all the time?

I understand that the building area is huge, but I thought that there would be some mechanic that makes people gather around stuff I built, since it seems reasonable. It appears they do not like my creations I have 15 philosophers standing near the shore, spacing out. They never even sleep in beds I made for them. Feels like it is not supposed to be that way.

Build something that they would WANT to hang around in.

Seriously.

A nice bar and grill with a pool table, some nice plants, abundant seating, a jukebox, whatever looks nice, and they will hang out there.

Just give it a day or so after setup and Cait will be dancing on the bar!

O.K. that last part was a joke.

Probably.

But the Rec. Area attracting settlers totally does work.

I include one in every settlement.