I have built a fortress but I want it to be attacked, apart from one synth assault I've had nothing. Is there a way to 'attract' these assaults on a settlement?

leave out a whol bunch of rotting meat

If you're on the PC, yes...you can spawn attackers.

In theory if your defense is much lower than your food and water you will get more attacks. But in my case I got more attacks to settlements with higher defense when I was away from them.

Not pc so I am stuck with using the game mechanics and rules

I will check that out thanks

I havent tried this, but you should be able to boost the probability by changing the ratio of defense to food+water.


Try building a bunch of wells. Boosts water production without committing settlers.

That would attire mountain lions!

there are a whole bunch of wasteland mutants, raiders, various creatures and even cannbals who will come sniffing

Is this genuine??

worth a try

Ghouls also eat cram

Build up your defenses with an on/off switch. They won't count toward your defense score when they are off and then when the attack comes just turn on the power. Other than that there isn't really a set way things work. I have had a settlement that has only 10 food and water with defense over 250 get attacked while other settlements that I haven't even bothered with never get attacked.

Basicly the higher the defence you have the lower the chance of an attack happening is, on PC you can spawn an attack by using console commands.

Red Rocket

Settlers: 12

Resources: 24

Defense: 110

It get's attacked constantly on my current character. With all that defense packed into such a small area it's no surprise how attacks end. The Feral Ghoul bum rush had the most success putting 3 settlers on their butts before the turrets cleaned them up.

I actually like this one - I would love to set up an ambush for those Super Mutant Primus!

Minimum defense I use on my settlements (any size) is 150. Sanctuary is 220 (and never attacked).

I have come to the conclusion there is no rhyme or reason for the attacks.. some settlements are constantly problematic whereas others.. nothing at all. I have noticed the more people the more attacks which is the ONLY link I keep seeing over and over.. I have 18 settlements..and each all above 80 with defense and food is 2x the population. I DID try an experiment.. I collected better guns off raider killings and gave each settler and equipped them with a better gun .. it did seem to help. The attacks in those larger settlements seem to have calmed down.. what I notice is every settlement someone is always getting kidnapped.. damn terrorist raiders..I dont know how to elevate that particular issue.. which seems to be on going problem.

The way I have mine setup is my turret tower is wired to the siren which is right next to a settler guard. As soon as the switch is toggled for the siren on comes the tower powers up and whatever is foolish enough to attack me dies in seconds. The down side to this is if somehow the attackers get to my power station I am screwed but I have that completely walled off and even if they can glitch through the wall there is zero room to stand in there haha. My tower consists of 8 missile turrets, 8 heavy lazer turrets, 1 spot light, and 2 heavy machine gun. First ring will be the lazers plus spot light, second story are my missile ones, and the 2 heavies at the very top guarding the only spot I couldn't cover although since that is like 40 feet in the air I doubt I have to worry about that.

I have been trying to figure out a way to use the pressure plates but I cant get the settlers or whoever it is from tripping it. I need a do not touch sign.

If the pressure plates are like the laser trigger, try hooking a console to them. I set my laser trigger to "Enemy only".

Oh I didn't know we could set what triggers them I will have to look into this. Still that only works if the attackers use the front door instead of just warping into my base. Last thing I want is to get attacked and lose everything while my mighty killing tower just sits there looking pretty.

Oh that's cool! I'll have to lookup the commands later and try it on a seperate save. It'll be like an arcade mode. Thanks

Well my ambush is set up at the beach. 69 defense normally, going to 220 defense when the siren goes off.

Now I am just hoping for an attack...

Spawn points INSIDE settlements need to go. What is the point of a walled city, if you are only locking some of your attackers IN!