Anyone having a sudden problem keeping settlements happy? A few of my settlements have gone from a happiness of 80% (or close to it) to see them plummeting to 40% or lower. All in the last day or so.


When I ask the trader shop keeper about the situation in the settlement, some will say all is fine and others will say they have issues with taking shifts with sleeping because they cant find any beds. Yet in those settlements I have at least twice as many beds as settlers (or more) and they are assigned or most of them are assigned to beds leaving a whole lot of beds unclaimed.

Make sure there is enough space for settlers to reach the beds properly. Their pathing isn't perfect so they can sometimes be blocked from reaching beds that exist and then think that there isn't enough beds. Watch them at night to be sure that everyone is able to properly go to bed rather than getting blocked in some way.

Bugs,Bugs,and more bugs!`The next patch is supposed to fix some of these issues.

doubt it is a bug. I have seen (seems like) hundreds of these threads. ultimately, the beds were just blocked! or they couldn't reach the first step to get into the shelter where the beds are located. Also, get better results with a roof over their heads!

just observe the beds after midnight. they should all be sleeping except robots and guards.

I have had a problem with certain settlements, like the Castle.

I have plenty beds for all, and easy paths to them.

There is plenty water and food and defenses. I even have a TV room, Jukebox and several stores.

But when I travel away I will check back and my Pip Boy will read: 0 Beds, 1 Defense, Happiness 40%

When I travel back, all is well. Plenty of beds, defenses are fine and happiness slowly starts creeping back up.

If I leave for a while, boom: 0 beds, defenses 4, Happiness 40%.

I have had settlements claim to have 10 people and eight beds. When I go to check it out: 14 people, 18 beds. Huh?

Others will show having 0 water on my Pip Boy when I know I installed a huge water purification pump. I run back, pump is fine, plenty water for all.

I have given up on keeping the little brats happy or ever earning that achievement!

Oh, and I have roofs over all of my settlers' beds and make certain there is easy access to them.

Same thing happens no matter what.

The max I have ever gotten the Happiness rating on any of my settlements is 84%

Sorry little ingrates. I should feed them to the Death Claws....

I have seen where fast traveling out of a settlement causes the tracking system to get screwed up; which generates false stats. Also you should check your defenses and food; you may have been raided without seeing the message and now all your crops and defenses need to be repaired.

The fast travel glitch probably is the issue.

But I gotta say no to the unnoticed raid. When it first happened I thought that exact thing. I would haul butt back, ready to repair whatever damage was done.

Nope. When I get there not a thing is wrong.

As a matter of fact, when I go into shop mode upon arrival it shows everything just as I left it. BUT, the Happiness rating is down with a red arrow next to it.

As I watch, the arrow always flips and the Happiness rating starts climbing up past 50% in a matter of seconds.

This happens on the Island and with water supply at Red Rocket. Every time the result is the same if I return: all is well except for the Happiness rating.

No, this is a bug. This is why I stopped even paying attention to the workshops listing on my Pip Boy. It lies like a dog!

Sanctuary:

Most of the beds are located in the houses. Some beds are in the bedrooms and some are in the living/dining room. I have built 3 small shacks and put 2 beds in each of them, assigning settlers to thin out the houses in case of the traffic issue. I have 18 people and 33 beds.


Oberland Station:

I have all the beds in a fairly large structure where they can get to the beds just fine. They are lined up in rows in the middle and a single bed in a hallway end along the outside. (I assigned the guards got assigned to the beds that may cause a concern for traffic.) This place seems to work ok with everyone going to a bed ok. I just wish some of them would stay to their assigned beds. A common problem. I have 11 people and 26 beds here and get the everything is ok message from the shop keeper.


Jamaica Plain:

Some beds in the building but 3 of them are assigned to guards leaving the other 2 for the original two settlers. The others are in a structure with an open entryway to easily get in and out and the beds are along the walls with plenty of walking room. Same as Oberland with the everything is ok message. I have 10 people and 14 beds here.


All structures with beds in them have roofs and lighting. Each settlement has typically a different housing structure that is different than the others as well. Plenty of food, water, a store and defense that include guards and many turrets at each place as well.


I have watched at night to see how things go and they seem to do ok if most times. Of course that doesn’t count the times where you fast travel to a settlement to find everyone having a town meeting in one spot.


And for me the stats are in workshop mode after looking at the map on the Pip Boy. I learned early not to trust the Pip Boy data on the settlements but the map usually has the happiness right.


Thanks for the replies.

they say getting rid of the all of tvs and jukeboxes helps. i've had fewer problems since i got rid of all i could find in my settlements.

Accessibility to beds is key to have settlers sleep in their beds. Notice settlers can't make sharp 90-degree turns. Make sure the paths to their beds have ample space near them, instead of narrow paths with sharp turns. E.g.

Instead of bed placement like this:

__ __ __

| __ __ __

| |

| |

Or this:

__ __ __

|

| |

| |

Have this:

__ __ __

| |

| |

| |

I've seen settlers who can't get from (1) to (2) because of the sharp turn:

_ _ _ _ _

|

| |

| (2) |

| | (1)

| |

| |

Also, make sure at least one side of the bed is totally unobstructed.

Instead of this:

__

|

Have this:

__

|

If you are skeptical about all this, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2auJ5qT0bso as proof of this "bed situation" being caused by bed inaccessibility. Notice the happiness is dropping all this time. After I rearrange the beds, the happiness goes right back up.

The only kind of beds that don't have the above problems are sleeping bags, since they don't have height and can be walked over. When settlers can walk over them, they have no trouble accessing them.

I have my beds set up in the U formation at most of my settlements. Doesn't help.

I also have defenses going to 0 when there are multiple turrets all operating and in perfect condition.

I have seen water supply at zero when, again, multiple pumps all working perfectly.

One time I was in the Castle and, as I stood and watched, all the corn was cut down as though an invisible scythe was cutting them all down.

I fast traveled away and came back, all were fine.

The Settlement system is just buggy.

I shouldn't have to show settlers how to go to bed.

If they need this much direction they should go ask the raiders. They seemed to have figured it out.

The erroneous display on the Pip-Boy happens to me too and many of us. There are some cumbersome workarounds which I never bother doing, so I just visit the settlements more often. But the bed placement issue as mentioned in my earlier post is real. If your settlers are standing around unable to go to bed, then you have to rearrange your beds as shown in my video. So do you see your settlers stand around near the beds? If not, then you don't have this particular problem, and the cause of your happiness problem lies elsewhere.

I do see that problem in some settlements. More to the point, I see the Town Hall issue where a clutch are all standing in the middle of the settlement with nowhere to go.

In these settlements, I can see your point and I could re-structure.

However, I have had the same problems elsewhere, like the castle, where the pathways to the beds are wide open.

But, let's just say all is set up and everyone has a clear path to their beds.

Unless you stay in that settlement all the time, when you fast travel away your Pip Boy will show misleading data, like 0 beds or 1 defense, and the happiness rating goes down.

Unless that settlement is your #1 priority and you don't plan on going anywhere else, your efforts appear futile.

It is up to the individual. If you enjoy micromanaging your settlements, cool.

To me, this is a bug that Bethesda needs to fix.

It is not my fault I am not holding my settlers hands and leading to their bunks every night.

If the AI can't figure that much out...well...I guess they are all just going to die.

Considering the hazards of the wasteland, there certainly are worse ways to go then sleep deprivation.

I can live with that.

Another thing that can happen is that beds can become mysteriously unassigned (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kONA3uCfd8), but this seems to be a rare occurrence. Unassigned beds, of course, leads to loss of happiness.

Also, some special NPCs can't be assigned anything, like Arlen in The Slog (the "toy part" guy). Even though there is a pre-existing bed for him, you can't assign him to it. So his unassigned bed causes unhappiness.

Incomplete radiant quests like kidnappings, ghoul problems, raider troubles, greenskin attacks, etc. also cause happiness to drop. When they are completed, it goes back up.

https://www.reddit.com/r/falloutsettlements/comments/41key9/settlement_internals_explained/cz32v7b, and they are shockingly simple: just beds, food, water, defense, and stores. Food & drink stores give more happiness than other stores. And wall decorations, lights, plants, and other knick-knacks have no effect all. This is, of course, assuming no kidnappings, ghoul problems, etc. are taking place. Such a simple formula explains why a barely developed settlement with 2 settlers (one growing 2 food and another running a restaurant), 1 water pump, 4 defense, and 2 sheltered beds can achieve 100 happiness.