In the settlement building demos we see a dilapidated house torn down for building material and a shack build on its foundations. What I would like to know, is can you repair an existing house if you have the materials? At times I think it would be preferable to repair a house than tear it down.

I suspect areas we can build in will just have a bunch of houses that can only be cannibalised for parts and we'll be forced to build from scratch. I'm hoping modders will be able to give us further parts we can build (so they'll be able to add those into our build menu) that are basically copies of existing buildings in the game (large brick buildings and weatherboard 50s style buildings from the past), and we'll then be able to add onto those (build extra floors in, a roof, platforms to further areas and so on) - which will be effectively like repairing existing buildings (except with tons more variety to choose from).

So either modders or DLC will come to the rescue (most likely modders).

I never thought of that to be honest. I get the impression if we kept the house to repair it may fall out of line with the post apocalyptic feel of the game. The only reason I say this is because all the buildings that we can build have a shanty town look about them. I say more building options the better. I guess we'll find out in 28 days time

For me they would have a repaired look about them, maybe with some dodgy looking patched up sections.

I have to admit replacing a standing house for a shanty shack seemed a little odd. I certainly hope we can make something a little more substantial.

I think that "what you can build and how shoddy or pristine it looks" will depend on the skill that dictates your carpentry.

In a real world since you don't want to be in a structure that has been standing for what centuries unmaintained. In such a building you might want to wear a hardhat.

Actually if it's been standing for centuries unmaintained it may be the strongest structure ever created by man.

For a roleplaying view the player may feel their PC may want to restore his/her family home it some extent (if it is in a settlement area which I suspect it will be). Where others may want to tear it down so not be reminded of what they have lost.

Something I been curious about are the other people who settle there. You make a community but where do they live? Do they simply move into the surrounding buildings or do you build homes for them? Do they make their own homes or maybe they just stand around 24/7 doing nothing?

Anyone know?

Probably not. If you can you could potentially only tear down the damaged wall or part and then just build a good one in its place but I really doubt there will be a "repair" option.

Guessing we make them homes by adding beds to houses we build there, and they move into one of the beds. Some of them will be merchants, some will be farmers, some will probably do other things.

It's not impossible that madders will figure out how to maintain existing structures that you can "modifiy" in game. Since this is the first time we've had this kind of feature in-game, it remains to be seen what the CK can do with said feature.

I hope it's not that we build the whole settlement. It's never made sense in games where the PC is the only person able to due such things. I'm hoping that we just start up the settlement, show the potential for protection and resources, and people move in and build their own dwelling.

That would be great fun to watch. I hope they're at least capable of maintaining the buildings if they get damaged in a raid.

And what happens when they build stuff you do not like? I dont think Beth wants to hear how stupid their AI is at architecture and design. Pretty sure it will be up to the player to build things. Im thinking the NPC's that show up are just gonna mill around in the area that you can build in... except possibly the merchants. They might set up their own lemonade stands.

But that's just it. Can't any of the NPC's think for themselves or have a style they like? Do they actually have to cater to me and build only what I like ... or just move aside and let me build it for them? I've played other games where the PC builds a whole town and the idea is just stupid. Seriously do you think I don't have better things to do? So one of them builds a house I think looks dumb ... well so what. That happens in a society.

More likely, they will ask the PC for certain things in a building, and it will be up to us to provide.

If we can only build shanty-towns, adding in the ability to construct non-crap buildings will be one of the first things people are going to look into doing. The rickety shack aesthetic has always been one of the worst things about Fallout 3; it seems to assume that post-apocalypse people can't do a single damned thing on their own except staple pre-war things together - and that definitely includes an inability to do a simple act like sweep up, considering all the utter trash that you find lying around places that have supposedly been settled for decades.

There are at least 2 different versions of houses in the E3 Settlement Crafting video, shanty and steel. Chances are that you can only build shanty style buildings at the start, but going to different places and learn about their architecture will allow more options. So if the first DLC is based in Ronto, then finishing off the Ronto DLC will allow you to build Ronto style buildings.

What I saw in one preview was a guy tending to some crops and some guys manning some gun platforms so I think you will see them doing busy work when they are not manning defensive positions. Also you will be the settlements leader so you will be in charge of “Town Planning”, the last thing I will want is some joker building his shack somewhere that blocks the field of fire of my defensive positions.

Also I do hope you can build walls as I did not see any in the previews.

I don't remember the specific quest name, but in oblivion there was a quest that had you find these settlers, then clear out an area of goblins, and provide the settlers with funds to create their little settlement. What was really neat was that over time, there would actually be construction going on until it eventually was it's own little farm. I think that something similar to this, for the npcs to construct their own homes, maybe with some PC guidance, would be interesting. It's also just as likely though that you'll govern every aspect of the settlement, and the npcs may not serve much function.

I expect the NPCs to essentially be 'resources' - you'll need NPCs to tend crops, or guard walls, or do Other Undefined Tasks.

Wonder if we'll have any control over what types of settlers move in?... like if it will be based on karma or something. If we're an evil character it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for a bunch of nicey, nice town folks to move in to our settlement.

If the base game won't let us build walls I expect there will be enough people asking for them that it will come as DLC, or someone will make us a mod.