I have kind of decided that Sanctuary is going to be my base of operations and I'm really not going to spend a whole lot of time on other settlements.

I could use some advice though.

I am considering surrounding Sanctuary with a wall, putting up turrets and all the defensive stuff and setting up some minor trader routes, but am wondering if this is even a doable option.

I'm pretty much set-up in one of the old houses, and have thought about really making that a fortress, but am wondering if it is a good idea to go ahead and build a major structure on the foundation right next door and starting from there.

Thoughts anyone?

I used Sanctuaray for a while. Its a decent base and its huge compared to most of the others. I went ahead and built walls all the way around the zone you can build in and put in some decent defenses. Some how I am still getting the odd enemy in town. Only way in is the gate at the bridge and thats covered by about a dozen turrets.

I decided I didnt like living in a house full of holes and ready to fall in on me. When I found Covenent and saw houses in good repair I moved in as soon as I finished the quest you get there.

Enemies spawn inside settlement areas, it hasn't been confirmed if this is a bug or not. plus settlements, even if you have extremely high defenses, if you do not come to their aid when its asked, all your stuff gets wrecked regardless... which is total BS...... because if the super mutants saw most peoples defenses, they would think twice about hitting that place.

It is doable. I spent over an hour one night doing it. But is it worth it?

Surrounding Sanctuary with a wall takes a huge amount of resources. Steel is easy to find, of course, but still it will drain almost all the steel and wood you have in that area. And for what?

Raiders, I believe, spawn within Sanctuary (withing the zone of Sanctuary) so they would be within your walls - so no defense there.

The walls themselves give you no defense benefit. The turrets and any towers you put up will, of course. But the walls give you nothing.

It was a cool aesthetic, I have to admit. Then I need to find steel and wood from somewhere else.

I built a basket ball court there. I want to start a Powersuit League. Anyone know where I can get a ball from?

Yeah as far as actually building up a settlement I'm waiting on patches and instructions.

As far as making it your personal base it's fine, but I like Red Rocket better as I can be left alone there and not worry or care about settlers wandering around.

Here is a house in

you can buy if you just want a nice place to live.

Supply routes are really great, I wish I got them sooner. I've got at least one person on a supply route from each settlement I've found and it has helped immensely. As far as the walls, they don't really seem to matter... Like Whiteknight said, enemies spawn inside at times.

@xBainX, there are several in the world. I too made a basketball court on a lot in sanctuary. I have found 3 balls so far and have placed them in a bathtub so they wouldn't roll away. I've found some in concord and Lexington I believe. I know there is a basketball court in Lexington with a hilariously placed person inside a hoop.

Hey! I just got a basketball and 2 kickballs (fully inflated!) from the Food Mart in Lexington! The basketball was in a crate in the back storage area before you head to the loading docs.

I swear I've killed ghouls that had kickballs on them; close enough?

Walls to keep attackers out are useless - they spawn anywhere inside the perimiter as well as spawn outside. Faict - it seems rng based, so your luck may vary which type you get more.

For sanctuary, yes sometimes lucky and you get attackers spawn on middle or far end of bridge, and if you setup chokepoint bridge defense, its a slaughter. Or spawns on other side of river, in which case 3-4 HMg turrets placed along the river seawall slaughters them. HMG turrets, esp elevated on the little columns sticking up there have huge range. My river seawall HMGs fired on and killed raiders on extreme far side attacking red rocket.

But lot of random spawns are inside sanctuary - between homes, along the main street past bridge, way far north on opposite end near circular courtyard street, etc
Only effective way to deal with that is raze abanonded homes and use foundation as 4 corner defense to place turrets each corner so you have multiple turrets able to fire at any interior angle. Turrets can traverse at least 120 degrees from center placement but not sure if can traverse full 180 to fire directly behind centered placement.

If you built homes on those razed plots, makes it bit tougher without that easy killing zone, but roof mounted turrets would prob do.

With good placement of HMG turrets, and plenty of them, sanctuary attacks has turned into great fun to watch. Just make sure you place turrets so North-South and East-West bases of fire are covered in all angles so you auve crossfire pretty much anywhere facing out as well as in.

Edit - walls to funnel attackers at strategic points are useful though, long as it doesnt block good firing lanes. Walls keeping attackers out = useless due to rng spawn inside perimeter
Walls as funneling mechanism = very good

I bought the house in your spoiler tag. It has a serious flaw, you can not build work benches to use inside the house. Sure there are some right outside the door but they are not linked to main workbench where all your salvage material ends up. So, you have to get all the materials out of the main workbench and then tote it all outside if you want to work on armor, weapons, or make repairs on your power armor.

The settlement system is a burden right now. It reall needs a better way to manage your settlers, trade routes, etc. My next play through I am not going to even bother with it aside from building up a base for my own use and a place to let my followers hang out. The rest of it is just too much hassle with the system as is. Mater of fact I am tempted to go salvage everything I have built and let the settlers fend for themselves.

There's actually a rubber ball right outside the crafting house in Sanctuary. IF you didn't scrap it.

Ghouls carry the most bizarre [censored] it's hilarious. Side note - why are ghouls (in all games) cap collectors? Do they like the jangle?

That is a serious problem. I'll stick with RR until I get the

then.

Sanctuary is my main base. Scrap every single thing inside that very large area and you will have ample steel and wood for anything you want to build at Sanctuary and a couple other settlements too. You can easily house 10 to 15 people in two of the houses.

The first time, I walled in most of the area with houses. The second time I walled in less of it. If you use fast travel there is no downside to it. Even if you only use fast travel sparingly or not at all, the map isn't really that big and the supply lines allow stuff to transfer between settlements from what I know.

Just an FYI I have had a settlement I. Hangmans ally for 50 hours. It has been attacked 3 times. The enemies spawn OUTSIDE the base and never inside so I am protected. The base is small though so you have to be good at building vertically and maximizing every square inch. It was a challenge but I now have a thriving settlement with a bazzar and a giant vertical fort to house people. A farm is located near one side. I have all but one entrance completely blocked off.

*TIP- there is a junk fence with a locked door you can use to block an entrance so enemies can't come through. One way in and one way out

My set up is as follows.

Sanctuary: used as the primary base for my people. Have ok water and food, enough for the people. My defense says like 168 or so. I have a small 2 story house I build there, 1 prefab wood house, a basketball court, a communal "bath house", 2 communal bunkhouses, 1 area where I have a large generator and spaces for vendors once I unlock them plus some beds for them, 1 area for my Brahmin, a central choke point at the main bridge with 6 turrets and a search light, one the cement area next to the bridge I have a watchpost that will get artillery when I unlock those turrets, 2 guard towers watching the road from the bridge into the central commons area. My next project is a "bar" area.

Red Rocket: My personal mansion over looking sanctuary. Its 5 stories tall, and the only things I have there is Dogmeat and Codsworth or Preston depending on who I feel like taking with me. the 1st floor is a living room area with a power switch, terminal, some storage, magazine racks, and my collection of lunchboxes. The 2nd floor is a recreational area, with a bar and dining area, 3rd floor is my bathing area and food storage, 4th area is my bedroom with storage, tv, and a balcony area that goes around the red rocket, 5th floor is rooftop seating and watch tower.

I kind of feel like a rich overlord watching over my minions from a distance.

I do have a small house at the drive-in, outpost zimanju (spelling?), Abernathy farm, and tenpines bluff but for the most part I stripped those areas of resources and lugged it back to my main two areas.

And what about the smokers. I know it's addictive, but, really? And silverware? Yesterday, one of them was actually carrying a silver teapot. Just plain weird.

Great info all! Thank you!

I hope this is a bug, what's the point of allowing us to build elaborate defences and stuff if the badguys just magically appear in the middle of your settlement?

Sloppy.

That's exactly what I did. I spent hours building a house straight into the air and I blocked that back entrance. Nice defensible position and I store my power armor on the various ledges you can get to after you build upward.

I found another cool Red Rocket station close to DC on my first trip there, which had a rooftop with a table and chair setup, but now I can't find it again =(. It was perfect for my base, but I just can't backtrack and find it anymore.

The house in DC you can't build workstations and send companions there. Have you found a way to make that happen? Or is it just a secondary house to stay in while in DC that doesn't actually function as a base? There's a dog house on the roof, but I can't send Dogmeat there.

This doesn't happen in my experience with the Red Rocket as they always seem to appear outside the settlement area, I've never had anyone even reach the walls never mind damage anything........my mass battery of HMG & laser turrets mounted on the curved end of the roof slaughter everything before I even get to see whats attacking most of the time (defence is over 150 total).

I like how many of them are called "Mrs Donohue" or "Mrs. Smith" or something, lol. Gives them some personality =)