It's OK. Needs lots of stuff

A lot of stuff has been said already, I am going to try and keep this things that others have not said.

- Give the ability to make things that auto buff settlers, armories, if you build a gun rack, made with 8 of whatever particular gun + an amount of ammo, your settlers would equip with that gun and ammo, same thing for different armors. This way you don't have to go and do everything yourself.

- Add some not garbage walls, floors, everything. I want to make a decent looking building, but all of the walls look like garbage, with holes all over the place, I want some nice, simple, clean walls and stuff. Windows.

- Some perks (robotics expert) are not good enough on their own, if these less valuable perks added something new and functional that you could build there would be nice room to make settlements more specialized.

- Speaking of specialization, add some new settler operated improvements that can make better resources, like a forge that automatically makes metals, manufactory that makes screws, springs, ect, and other such things that would be more specialized than generic scavenging stations.

- Crop plots, things that use fertilizer and create areas you can plant crops into, so that the more urban settlements can grow their own food rather than relying on nothing but supply lines.

- Auto assign settlers to things other than farming, if there are available jobs the settlers should not just stand around because there is no farming to do. Also, a way to summon unassigned settlers only.

I've updated it in now.

Yeah, I think a few people on the forum are getting frustrated with finding NPCs ontop of roofs and what not.

Agree with it all.

The first idea sounds interesting, I havent come across thieving settlers but have heard of it on the forum, sounds like a good way to fix it.

The second I totally agree with and was very surprised to see the limitations. Could simply be junk-wall cost PLUS paint. Would give you a reason to keep hold of those paint cans.

I've seen some suggestions elsewhere on the forum of Sentry Bot protectors being an option at Robotics Expert Rank 3. Would make it potentially worth taking.

The alternatives to the scavanging station sound interesting, to be fair I am not entirely certain there is any benefit in getting scavanging stations...

Certain settlements are a pain for crops, especially Jamaica Plains. Its the worst one I've encountered so far.

Agree with the auto-assign feature, drives me mad visiting some areas and finding jobless settlers sitting around even when jobs are available...

Adding another: Fix provisioners so when you switch them back to normal settlers, there name changes back to Settler.

I've already said my piece on this:

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1576198-settlement-system-some-suggestions/

I'll update those in, thanks!

Almost 100 votes in...

Some interesting results so far, very surprised at the minutemen responses to be honest.

I have a handful of main things I'd like to see for settlement related DLC.

I'd like a more clear way to see what settlers are assigned to. Currently you can open the build mode, look at the settler, and their assigned tasks will highlight...somewhere off in the settlement and often beyond your field of view. Being able to bring up a little 'stat sheet' showing what actual tasks they're assigned to would be really helpful. Some type of distinction between assigned and unassigned settlers would be helpful. This could be implemented very easily. The 'settler' name pops up when you look at a character. Attach some sort of icon to their name the indicates whether they're assigned or unassigned.

I'd like an easier way to reassign provisioners. As it is now, you have to wait for them to come back to the settlement and get within the build boundary. There have been a bunch of times I've seen a provisioner walk up to the settlement confines, then turn around before crossing the boundary. The most logical fix would be to allow us to reassign provisioners any time we see them, rather than just when they're within the settlement.

I love finding the random named NPCs that can be recruited as level 4 vendors. However, all of these people seem to be glitched. The Vault-Tec Rep, Anne Hargraves, The Scribe, Trader Rylee, and the other various level 4 vendors all just seem to act really buggy, and sometimes randomly disappear. I'd really like to see this fixed, and perhaps see more level 4 vendors implemented into the game.

Aside from these few things, I'd really just love to see some of the assembly mechanics smoothed out. The interface for doing a lot of the building is a bit on the clumsy side. I love the basic mechanics of how it works, but it's pretty finicky. I'd like to see some more options for walls and doorways as well. Some wall sections with windows would be nice. More than a couple options for doorways would be nice as well. In general, I'd also like to see more building options that don't look like they're made from garbage too...lol

Seriously, I can supposedly craft upgrades for the most advanced types of power armor ever made, but I can't build a wall without holes in it?

I do really love the settlement system though. I'm in the progress of building a mega-fortress of Spectacle Island that currently has a defense of about 600. Nothing's getting in there without my permission.

1) Definately agree, I tend to place different objects and therefore different jobs all around as opposed to placing them in a specific location, so it's tough to see whats being done and whats not. This is a common request, really hope it gets updated in.

2) Again this one annoys me a ton. Some provisioners wont even re-assign to non-provisioner jobs, you have to keep telling them to change jobs and a day later (literally a real day later) I will get a message in the top corner of my UI telling me that someone has been re-assigned. They are the toughest to deal with.

3) Did not realise there was such thing as level 4 vendors I've been doing something wrong.

4) Yup and you can modify a cryolater like it was a lego gun even though it was the masterpiece of a scientific overseer... Definately agree

5) I think the results so far have surprised me, I honestly was expected more negative votes, but its definately a great addition to the series and one I hope they continue in a refined way or another. Consider posting up photos of that settlement, would be interesting to see!

I enjoy the settlement addition to Fallout. In fact, I've spent the past few hours, and about 10k of my caps (on console) on getting shipments of certain things to build up setlements and expanding my supply line (I have Sanctuary, down to The Castle supplied). Only thing I'm annoyed with, is the obvious lack of being able to clip fences together, or the rather large gaps they leave underneath them. Keeps enemies out, but it just looks tacky.

I dislike the "size" factor, reminds me of having the sad realization in The Sims, that I no longer have room to build anything else. A game like this should have at least one settlement that you can build unlimited amount of things within' your radius.

I want to be mayor of a 'Diamond City' type city. I want to be able to build, and manage a city. Security, Housing, Taxes, Punishment, Invaders, everything. I really think they should touch down on this in a DLC. I doubt it'd happen, but I can salivate over the thought.

My criticisms are only made out of a genuine desire to see a great thing become better. I love the settlement system, and I love the way it's been implemented. But it does have some kinks that need to be worked out. As far as genuinely negative feedback is concerned though, I really don't have any. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the system. It's more of a finishing touches kind of patch that's needed.

3/5 mediocre.


I did not enjoy the Minutemen associated with settlements. But that's mostly because I didn't care much for their handling in general. I'd be much more interested in seeing other factions associated with settlements instead of, or along with, the Minutemen. So I voted C but it was really a mixture of A and C.


Voted "No, just stop it already". The settlement building was a nice experiment. But I don't ever want to see it as a focus of Fallout's, and I certainly don't want to see precious dlc resources put towards it instead of new worlds spaces or good questlines. I didn't hate it. But I'd prefer to never see it again in Fallout, if only because that means we'd get stuff that I feel actually matters in its place.


Voted to update mechanics. I don't really care if any of this stuff is done. I'd prefer to see bug fixes and additional gameplay content, shortcuts, and balances like we got in Skyrim and New Vegas.

for people not liking settlements being loosely connected to the minutemen. The more settlements you have the better range you can cover with artillery.

If bethesda could give us what is in fallout shelter then we could manage our settlers better. If you haven't played fallout shelter. It gives you a list of you settlers(vault dwellers) and what they are assigned to and their names. They could add to that by allowing us to rename our settlers. It could have a way to check what each settlers is assigned to. If you look at fallout shelter it has that gear in the upper left had corner, that is what I am talking about

A system could be setup using the terminals already in the game. Using radio since that is already in the game.

About taking off underpowered perks - some of us like the extra options those allow and I'm thinking that settlement perks can be added as extra star assignments for some slots (where relevant). It would be nice, if some perks are to be taken away, which ones are replaced is left up to the player as a list of options in the settings.

Also, productions of dyes at chem station and colouring of all armour parts and all clothing at armour station with produced dyes would be a useful way to allow the option to produce uniforms (which can be applied to settlers by assignment fo make it easier to keep track of who does what in general. Currently I just use some of the unusual wasteland clothes but it could go a little deeper I think)

Faction and civilian ranks: Eg. NPC administrator roles (possibly activity specific) to allow slight improvement in efficiency, dialogue options to find out if there are enough of the type of resource not manned to completely occupy more settlers and how many. Administrators would also be handy for things like taking care of who is assigned to what and letting you know how many more people are needed to completely service the resource type you have available. Myabe a second tier admin who knows who is assigned to who and can rattle off lists of names on the spot according to which admin's detail you're checking in on.

Security or guard assignments need static/patrol options with a shift specifier for those playing at Survival difficulty

I noticed settlers can be assigned furniture as a "resource" but this clears when you assign them a job. It would be nice to be able to assign occupancy of particular beds, chairs, containers (if relevant) to specific settlers in addition to resource assignments as this could be used to implement the feeling that settlers are settling in and making a home for themselves (with their own off-time space). Moreover, in large planned settlements, this would make specific settlers so much easier to find.

It would be nice if settlers had names. Just download a list of first names (male and female) for a the language in question along with a sampling of surnames, select the ones that actualy make sense, genderwise, and just randomly mix and match with surnames but according to gender as new settlers pop out of the woodwork. I think that would make keeping track so much better - especially if administrators could rattle off who's on their detail when asked.

With the kidnappings and particularly the Institute shennanigans, I've got this wierd urge to lojack my settlers ... kinda redundant and maybe a little insane, no? On the sly, though, it would be handy for locating settlers who're out of sight on a big settlement llike Sanctuary or Spectacle. So, kinky stuff like nerve stapling and human lojacking aside, what if we added to the dialog of the dogs, assigned to settlements, a "Find..." option which brings up a list of names of every settler in the settlement so you can pick who you're looking for and follow the dog while s/he "sniffs them out"...?

Settlements need a lot more settler faces and it might make for a good mechanic when, once water hits 2 or 3 per settler at a given settlement, that the settler faces start being clean and there is a happiness bonus. Functional people generally keep clean if they can and generally get very ticked off if they can't.

Finally, civil militia officer assignments (i.e. security administrators) would make squad leaders and section leaders more plausible - especially if you can task one of these leaders with assigning their squad or section to reinforce a particular defense point (static) or patrol as a group (assignemnt to security feature as 'patrol') or another handy option might be to permanently assign an officer and her/his squad/section to escort a provisioner (which I think might have interesting consequences)

Just a few thoughts, anyways...

I would like to see thematic building sets based on the faction the player sides with. Something like as follows:

Railroad: In keeping with their proletarian status, simple concrete block homes. Outhouses for plumbing.

Minutemen: Colonial style. At its simplest log cabins, but for more resources proper colonial period homes as would have been found in New England in the 17th and 18th century. Outhouses for plumbing.

Institute: Sanitized, 'I really don't belong in the Wasteland', modern look. At its simplest, prefab type structures, for a lot of resources homes that look like something Le Corbusier would love. Indoor private bathrooms.

BOS: Clean, Dry and Serviceable should be the primary descriptor. Basic wood frame homes, prefab defense walls and for lots of resources aboveground bunkers. Indoor plumbing, but of a 'gang latrine' style, there's probably not much privacy in the BOS.

For all settlements:

They had glaziers in the middle ages, can we please get glass windows?

Trash clean up as has been mentioned by other posters.

Demolition of more buildings, such as all homes in Sanctuary. The ability to start with a clean slate, so to speak.

It was a great idea but very poorly implemented. There needs to be an option to turn snapping and clipping off for a start as its just a major headache (understatement), otherwise and the defense mechanics need a complete overhaul unless you plan to completely devote the rest of the game to it and even then it is still a major pain after the 100th consecutive attack, kidnapping, failed message etc..

And then there are the bugs to top it all off.

I'd love to see it being dumbed down a bit

I don't want to see the next Elder Scrolls or Fallout game having as many settlement locations as this one

4-5 throughout the whole world are more than enough, in my opinion

this would help to make the system also way more 'bugfree' and more refined

Along the line of militia officers if that could be extended to say patrol point A to point B, like patrol sanctuary to Zimonji Outpost they will move back and forth between the two keeping it free of riffraff. That could then be built on to allow for future development like player created factions where a raider faction could have a group assigned to raid a settlement for food and supplies, or a totalitarian faction could wipe out or conquer another settlement. Alternatively when you receive a settlement under attack alert you could send a patrol to reinforce the settlement under attack which would result in a success as opposed to always needeing to fast travel there yourself, making it feel more like you are in charge. Maybe an equation where the reinforcing patrol is given a combat value based on their numbers, armor, and weapons, and if that combat value plus the target areas defenses is greater than the attacking combat value of the raiders it's a success, if it's lower than its a failure and the patrol is wiped out and the settlement is sacked.

How about the acknowledgment of the existence of azerty keyboards...hmmm...oh heck, how about just acknowledging the possibility that qwerty keyboards aren't the only kind on the planet...too much?

Yeah, I have to use a third party program (AutoHotKey) just to set up the keybindings to be correct for my needs.

I think you will find a settlement in the south eastern parts of the map which has plenty of space. Unless you mean unlimited for items?

1) I dont really understand that point?

2) Yeah the die system they added in Dragon Age Inquisition was a great additon, meant that I could change my pink armour into something more... manly (I have low self-esteem issues in digital environments apparently). Would be great to see a similar system implemented. Would love to die my vault suit for example... Would also be a great addition if you could craft paint and use it on your settlement items to paint it whatever you want.

3) I dont think it would be necessary? However, it might be fun assigning a 'mayor' for each settlement. I like the idea of adding conversation options for every NPC.

4) Again I dont think it would be necessary. It sounds like we're getting closer to a full city-management simulator.

5) I think the system in place is very glitchy and would be compounded further by this idea. I would personally rather seem them approaching beds and furniture in the opposite way, removing any need to assign them and simply making them a resource-counter. If you have the right amount of beds thats all that should be required.

6) Definately agree, its a nifty trick I thought Bethesda missed out on...

7) Could be tied in to a settler-affinity system and expanded for further role-playing possibilities. Would be cool to have certain 'Vault' like experiments on your own settlements in addition to 'lojacking' settlers, with settlers commenting on the way you treat them. Heck it would be great if your actions impacted you outside of your settlements. Like going to DC and hearing guards calling you a freak for tagging all your settlers.

8) I really like this idea. Too much food = chubby/more lean settlers as well maybe? It would be great to have you settlement impact your settlers appearances.

9) Im assuming this ties into your 'create an army' idea from before. Would be a great addition but I very much doubt it is possible in this game.

I kind of agree with you with the settlement numbers. But at the same time I would personally much rather see a system of setting up a settlement wherever you want, that way the number of settlements is up to you.

Updating the list now.

Found the settlement feature to be an unexpectedly nice surprise. Bethesda has some bugs with which to deal, so think we'll see the mechanics improve over time.

Love settlement building and would welcome improvements.

IMO, the system could use some major overhauls, but those have all been voiced in other threads.

I would love an expansion of the system, but, not as a stand alone DLC, either as part of the larger DLC or involving a more specific, quest related and faction related questline.

Copied from http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1578464-things-the-settlements-system-should-include/

It's probably been mentioned before, but I wish there was some way to restore/repair some of the pre-existing buildings (Taffington Boathouse for example) without making them look like abominations by building over them.

Everyone has pretty much got what I believe are the failings of the Settlement System covered, so I'll keep this short.

1) If I can transport junk and food between settlements with a Provisioner, why can't I do the same for weapons, ammo and armor? Surely this could be a Perk-thing?

2) Ability to create a 'refuge point' where Settlers will run for cover if you haven't given them equipment better than the basics they already possess.

3) Ability to create a 'equipment point' where Settlers will automatically head to and receive a 'Care Package', which is single-use item containing armor, weapons and ammo and maybe Stimpacks that you've made and put in the equipment point. One Care Package per Settler, they auto-equip all the items, you're not running around after every Tom, dike and Harry to manually gear them up so they don't get splattered across the floor by random Bloat Flies and the Settlers are actually somewhat capable of self-defence.

4) Snap-together function really needs some tweaking, it can be twitchy as hell. Creating walk-ways on the walls around your Settlements, rope-bridges between the structures, ladders leading to the roofs etc, this all needs to happen.

5) We need the ability to have a 'Clear All' and 'Remove Clutter' function. 'Clear All' wipes everything off the Settlement area, all trees, rocks, shrubs and existing buildings, and gives us the relevant salvage if you're sick and tired of forcing your Settlers to live in dodgy, run-down buildings with more holes than swiss cheese. 'Remove Clutter' removes all trees, rocks, grass and shrubs so things aren't clipping through your damn buildings all the time. I am tired of having to build everything on Cement Floors or Raised Floors just to have to avoid this because some dingleberry thought the Settlement needed a copse of unmovable dead bushes right where you need to build the bunk-house for your Settlers to spare as much farmable land as possible, or worse still, RIGHT ON TOP OF THE BIGGEST PATCH OF FARMABLE LAND.

6) Better Defences (1). Let's be honest, if you aren't blanketing your Settlement in Heavy Lasers, you're doing it wrong, but this has the side-effect of having most enemies turned into a pile of ash that lingers for far too long and is damn hard to find in the unrelenting muted greys, browns and ochres of the Wasteland. Either make Laser-Ash Piles glow like Plasma puddles, and I mean REALLY glow, or make it impossible for Laser Turrets to 'ash-ify' a target. I don't even want to go into how stupid the Rocket Launchers are with targeting and accidentally blowing up Caravan Guards, Brahmin and Traders because a Forged or Gunner ran too close to their camp ....

7) Better Defences (2). If I can command robots, and I have a sizeable amount of components to repair/upgrade/maintain them, then why can't I use my Hacking Abilities to send 'Wild' Robots to Settlements to serve as a mobile self-defence platform for that Settlement? If every resource counts and I'm fighting for the lives of these Settlers in a hostile, bleak hell-hole of a land, then why not supplement their defences with Protectrons, Mr Handy's, Assaultrons, Siege Bots and the rest?

8) NO MORE INVASIONS (1). If my Settlement(s) is built up to hell and has more guns that a Brotherhood of Steal (No that's not a typo) family reunion, then why in God's name are raggedy-ass Raiders going to risk going there to steal food, water and slaves? After the first few attempts and getting utterly butchered by the automated defences, let alone my legions of Settlers armed with flamers, heavy assault rifles and automatic laser pistols, even the most stubborn Raider is gonna go "Okay, too tough to crack, let's try elsewhere." and hopefully that'll be the end of Raider Invasions, which still leaves Super Mutants, Gunners and (depending upon where your allegiances go ...) possibly Synth and BoS Invasions to deal with.

9) NO MORE INVASIONS (2). The 'Settlement X is under Attack' message to not spawn when a random Synth infiltrator in the community starts attacking, and to stay up after they get insta-gibbed by my paranoid Settlers. Likewise, Ghoul Invasions to not spawn halfway out in the middle of no-where so the damn Feral Ghouls can get distracted by something shiny or get gibbed by a random wandering NPC, leaving you unable to complete the radiant quest. Have them spawn a short distance away, ideally just outside of the range of most turrets, and then they just start blitzing towards the Settlement with their horrific run animations that make it all but impossible to keep a bead on them outside of V.A.T.S..

10) Do you even english, bro? Clearer instructions for building and for Bethesda to actually tell us how 'population' works for a Settlement so we know if sending Provisioners 'to' a Settlement boosts that Settlement's population, or are the connected Settlements all part of one big pool, or is the Settlement population only considered between two linked Settlements, so Sanctuary and Red Rocket are one 'pool', and Sanctuary and Abernathy Farm are a separate 'pool'? There's no point in running your ass all over the Commonwealth hoping to get lucky and find that randomly-spawning Level 4 Trader who you met waaaaaay back at Level 5 if there's no way in hell any of your Settlements meet the requirements to attract them in the first place.

I voted 'Yes, as it is would be just fine' because the wording of the more accurate option, "Yes, but not in it's current state" had negative connotations. "Yes, but even bigger and more elaborate" would have been wording I could get behind. The 'not in it's current state' would have made it sound like I was saying it was a mess.

I really don't understand this because the option's already there. It's dead simple to keep a settlement out of your network - just by neglecting to set up the provisioner. If you don't want the settlement, it is simple enough to choose not to complete the localised in-group mission that is so very obviously there to make the settlement "join the Minutemen". If you want to do the mission but don't want the settlement, I'd suggest that those are the kinds of diabolical decisions which typify role-play.

Maybe the optional nature of managed settlements numbers really does need to be spelled out, in-game, for those who are too tired or distracted to spot it. The relevant player dialogue option could remedy this with:

1. "Accept" a settlement's petition to join the Minutemen (i.e. allow the settlement to join)


2. "Consider" a settlement's petition to join the Minutemen (i.e. not allow the settlement to join, just yet, but keep options open so as to be able to come back later and sign the settlement up)


3. "Reject" a settlement's petition to join the Minutemen (i.e. not allow the settlement to join)

The point of all this is that, you can have 200+ settlements accessible to the player, and the player can still choose to set up only 4-5 of those leaving well enough alone with the rest or opt for all of the settlements. Like this, it's entirely up to the player. If, on the other hand, you reduce the number of possible settlements to 4-5, then those who want to work with more setlements (say, 120) don't have the option any more. This is why "dumbing down" is such a bad thing because it is nearly always a removal of features that some people actually want to use simply because some others may not use those features.

Based on 300+ hours of gameplay (in my case 50 hours would be more than sufficient to test this) the number of settlements in play has no impact on bugginess, whatsoever. All of the various settlement bugs, I've seen so far, are local. Moreover, some of the "bugs" I've noticed are simply game-mechanics which I didn't recognise, initially, but which have made gameplay more challenging and interesting once I fuigured out what was going on.

As for refinement, the network strategy game was first developed in China many thousands of years ago and, over that period, was refined to quite a precise optimum. Based on this, the optimum number of possible settlements available for management by a player would be the same as the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_equipment (i.e between 180 to 181). How well this might work with Fallout 4 or whether the engine can handle this, remains to be seen - but if you can fit 19 average-sized settlements side by side in any given direction without going off one edge of the map or the opposite edge, then there is more than enough room. Certainly, the outcomes modelled by the rules of Go need not apply as the smaller actions within the game can carry their own impact (e.g. if provisioners are set to non-essential, then longer communication lines will be less viable than shorter communication lines as a consequence).

Yes, it means the end-game is radically different from the opening levels of the game but what's the point of leveling up if you're still doing exactly what you were doing 50 levels ago?