This is a sentiment that has been echoed before, but I wanted to bring it up again because I wanted to highlight how I feel future content updates, mods, or dlc could hopefully improve upon this aspect of the game.

To begin, I had high hopes for the settlement system. When FO4 was introduced at E3, I dared to hope that this might be my "dream" game; in the sense that it would blend together an exciting world filled with intriguing characters, locations, and events with a more monotonous, slow paced, simulatory experience... a la The Sims or Harvest Moon. I got excited thinking about playing Fallout 4 as a hardened adventurer, who went back to his settlements to rest, resupply, and find companionship.

The reality of the situation is that the settlement building only really serves as an RP device, which isn't horrible! I have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of building settlements and RPing that I have a home and spend time with my romantic interests and what not. Problem is, it is a far cry from what I imagined it would be like and it is incredibly buggy. It will be best to break down my complaints into smaller points and then summarize how I think to improve it.

The Bad

1. Incredibly Buggy

The interface for keeping track of settlements is consistently off. Happiness appears to be all over the place and at one point I apparently had 1 settler at The Castle, when in reality it had 11 people. One of my settlements is littered with ghoul bodies that will not go away, and that problem can similarly persist in other places (most notably the body right outside of Sanctuary). For a purely ancillary game device, little hiccups that steal the small joy and immersion to be had are almost crushing. These need to be addressed first and foremost.

2. Completely unimportant

This is a consequence of Bethesda's drive to have NOTHING slow the player down, which is admirable and good in some respects. For instance, do I really miss having to scrounge hunting rifles over and over to repair my favorite one? No. And yet, I also miss having to juggle SOMETHING. I feel like that is where settlements could have really shone, especially since expansion of the settlements required active participation on the part of the player. You get Sanctuary and Red Rocket out of the gate and then can leave it aside and have nothing really negative come back on you.

This is a problem, as one of the major themes of the entire game is the future of the Commonwealth, and the events of the story all move to make you an integral part of that future. And not just integral but active! I DO NOT think a player should be punished for NOT doing settlement quests, but that aspect of the game should be something they WANT to participate in, because it enriches the experience they could otherwise be having and extends the life of the game.

3. Settlements and their population are too static

Diamond City is pretty great the first time you see it, because DC has some interesting characters. I know you cannot have randomly generated people with the same breadth of personality, but giving them all names would be a great first start. Giving them unique radiant requests would be another. That would also be helpful when trying to assign jobs to settlers. I mean, Fallout Shelter had named vault dwellers for crying out loud. I'm starting to venture into how I think it should change, so I will stop where I'm at now and move onto it...

My fixes

1. Fix the bugs. Not much else to say on that point, although I'm sure it is easier said than done, but I have this reasonable expectation that once the mod kit hits officially, bugs will be non-existent thanks to the player base. That doesn't really speak highly of your studio if your consumers are better at your job than you are. And that might be unfair, but I'd like to think that the least your post-game support could include would be aggressive bug fixes. It just gives players a bad perception when it seems like mods do more in terms of quality control than your staff. As if you are too busy counting the greenbacks to care about delivering a game that fulfills (and hopefully exceeds) your expectations. Just food for thought.

2. Integrating the settlements more cohesively can be done in small steps, but will most likely require a major DLC to see it come to full fruition. I think the first and most sensible step would be the ability to lose settlements. Obviously, this needs to be done in the wake of an overhaul to the frequency of settlement attacks or what-have-you, but the ability to lose settlements to Super Mutants or Raiders (or synths, BoS, etc.) should be a very real threat. Losing a settlement in an attack would mean you arrive to a scene of carnage and must kill the enemy force before you can start to rebuild. A "morale meter" or some device would be extremely beneficial, because as you have the ability to lose settlements, you also have the ability to be deposed as the leader of the Minutemen. Lose too many settlements or mismanage defense too badly and you will be asked to step down. You can then choose to remain as a supporter or work your way back up through special radiant quests to resume control.

You care to keep your job and do it well, because you are looked upon as a hero, and your position should give you the ability to act like an actual general. I would sincerely appreciate new NPC dialogue that recognizes you upon entering your homesteads. The general population of your settlements should view you as the hero-general that you are and greet you as such. That dialogue should change over time as well and should ultimately reflect some of the decisions you make. Decisions like who to promote in your organization. I believe you should have the ability to promote different settlers in the Minutemen, so that some of them are designated soldiers and some are purely settlers/farmers/etc. You can then organize your militia and give them simple tasks, such as looking for supplies and ammo, patrolling a certain part of the Commonwealth, or protecting caravans. Your choices will be informed by which areas are being attacked and by the immediate needs of your people. You will also benefit from increases in morale for making smart decisions and some share of the spoils being found.

The key to all this, is that the changes I'm proposing do not tip the scales in the favor of the settlement system, but give incentives for a player to be an active participant in it. The more you invest, the more it feels like the organization is responding to your work. It would also make the Minutemen feel more like they are part of the world, rather than a static piece of it. For instance, you might encounter some of your patrols out in the Commonwealth when on a mission, and you get a radiant quest to assist them if they are in danger, or you can simply say hello and check to see how things are going. Imagine having the option to join them and help them complete their mission? That is a little bit of a stretch goal, but the point is to figure out how to make it feel like being part of the Minutemen is actually changing the game world positively. Settlements and the Minutemen are intricately intertwined and so being able to improve how you manage your role as the leader of the Minutemen will make settlement management overwhelmingly better as well.

This doesn't exhaust all the options to make settlements more integrated into the rest of the game, but it is a good start and I'm sure future mods/content updates will also see more improvements. I feel a DLC focused on what comes next after the conclusion of the main story would be a vital part of doing what I'm talking about here, as tacking it on wouldn't really enrich the experience at all. A DLC with the theme of restoring the Commonwealth that added more settlement features and functionality along with some new problem or force would inject the game with much more content that could be enjoyed long term, which is something I think that Bethesda games are all about. They are more in the Minecraft territory than they are in the Bioshock territory... if that makes any sense.

3. Giving settler's names is the first step. I think it would be fantastic if they could give the settlers certain affinities. For instance, when it comes time to assign a settler a job, maybe they have a few short lines about what they did before they arrived. If they mention being good at hunting, maybe you promote them into the militia, or perhaps they are simply survivors, in which case there isn't a right or wrong choice. Even better would be to have the settlers have opinions about what they would like to do! Imagine having a settlement filled with people who just wanted to farm and live and having to make the tough choice of choosing someone to serve in the militia. (As an aside, I understand the concept of a militia is citizen-soldiers, however I feel like if a future DLC is the way they go about this, the Minutemen might become a pseudo-military organization. So, maybe using the term militia is wrong, but I feel like having your populace separated into fighters and homesteaders is probably the way things would go naturally and it adds an interesting gameplay element).

I don't expect with the dialogue system that we have that there will be an abundance of talking points with the settlers, but having a few basic options that can be varied but used in Bethesda's radiant system would go a long way toward providing the illusion of a living populace, rather than just "video game people". Anything that helps make settlements feel on par with a town that has named NPCs living it in. Something a little bit more dynamic.

So those are my suggestions. I meant to keep that as concise as possible, so hopefully it was thorough enough to convey my ideas but not to drawn out so as to make people lose interest. I know a lot of threads on these forums are about sound bites, but I appreciate anyone who dives in and engages with my thoughts. Maybe if we can hash out our ideas, the developers will look at threads like this for inspiration. Either way, it beats complaining endlessly! I appreciate all feedback.

sadly I will never get what I want. don't know if it's even possible. I seriously doubt a mod can do what I want. it sad that with all the brooms and weed wackers laying around that no one can pick it up and clean up the area? the mods that I have see do to much and it's too clean to fast. not to mention fixing and repairing buildings and such. red rocket is a good example.

depending on how many settlers you have would depend on how long it would take. Also being able to move all settlers regardless of location should be an option.

There are many things that could be done to fix the settlement issue. I think the initial product has promise and hope that a little more polish and a few changes make it even more fun.

I am tired of killing my Brahmin just to get them off the stairs so I can go up them.

My main gripe is that the settlements don't actually do anything or contribute much to the storyline.

There is no sense that you are in any way helping the settlers to help themselves and improve their environment. E.g. you never get a message that your communities have opened a school, or fixed up a hospital, or found a new location that could be colonised - or even had a few kids. The settlers don't clean themselves, or the immediate surroundings they live in.

There is not even any sign of the economic effect of the wealth you are creating - the food and water surpluses, the crafting centres, the shops and trade routes. Nothing ever happens, unless you yourself build or create something.

The net effect is that, apart from a slight visual thrill of, say, dressing all your girls in cocktail dresses, there is ultimately a feeling that your time and investment in the settlements is ultimately pointless. I can understand why so many players re-start and then just ignore the settlements altogether.

IMHO, Bethesda could easily integrate make the settlement aspect of the game a lot more immersive and rewarding - even if its as simple as some sort of text narrative about settlement development, or a linked Karma system.

The latest steam beta patch addresses some of the issues with settlement bugs and more. Take a look at the patch notes and see if it to your liking.

I concur that corpses reappearing where they were killed, even after relocating them, is annoying. Especially if you put time into making your settlements look livable. The only time I have messed up stats on settlements is in the Supply Link map though.

On the NPC names, I have a feeling the real reason they have all the generic "Settler" titles, is because they expected them to replace the original settlement members that are named after numerous attacks.

Regarding jobs though, there's FAR more wrong than just lack of names. It can take a hell of a long time just to get an NPC to man a guard station you assign them to. They'll walk a little ways to it, then go somewhere else.

Still though, it's an addicting enough game to keep you up until the wee hours of the morning, and that can also cause some to actually voice their opinion about it out of crankiness, forgetting how much fun and immersion they've had in the process.

You need to be afraid of settlements being lost (structures destroyed, settlers killed off, defenses smashed etc) so that they have real meaning but only if you don't have to be there to babysit all the time.

If I am honest with myself I would have to say that at the moment I still enjoy the settlement aspect of the game though this enjoyment is slowly being eroded away. The OP has already highlighted some of my gripes about the system however there are still other areas that really need a looking at.

The Recognition Aspect.

You can wander around the commonwealth doing your thing, whatever that may be, and have a chance encounter with a Minutemen Patrol. This Patrol will greet you "Hello General" or something along those lines yet when you drop into one of your settlements... "Hope your not a Synth" or "You got a dangerous look about you..."

If the mechanic is there for a chance encounter with a Patrol for a civil meet and greet then why is it not there for one of your settlements?

Build Items.

On a whole the various pieces you are given to build with are, shall we say, adequate. To me there do appear to be some missing pieces though, things like Half walls, height and width, you have the small floor pieces, why not walls? You have a Balcony with what could be described loosely as windows yet there are no corner pieces that match. The metal structures are just lacking in comparison to the wooden ones and a finished item can look broken already, seriously who would build something that looks broken? Junk walls that use more resources to make than a normal wall, it's a Junk wall! and the fact that they don't snap...

An expansion of the available build items would be greatly appreciated even if it's done in the same manner of the Picket Fence Magazine, find a mag, open up a new build item, again the mechanic is there.

Scrapping Items.

Or should I say items that cannot be scrapped for no apparent reason. There are a number of settlements that have areas/objects that simply cannot be scrapped. I am talking about large clumps of trees or deadfall, whole cars/ containers and the like. The stuff that crosses the boundary to the building area I'm not to concerned about, I'm talking about the stuff that's completely within the building boundary, in some cases in the middle of the build area. Some items, like the large Tree in Sanctuary are a feature and quite rightly so should not be able to be scrapped but the others, Greygarden for one, cars and trees... just really annoying. There are not that many settlement build areas, surely a quick lookover the scrappable items within that area and an activation of those parts that I can only assume were missed is not to much to as for?

Base Defence.

This is probably the biggest concern for most folks and the fact that it is utterly useless. When I build a Settlement I will do so to the confines of my available resources but as soon as i need to place the defences I will enter God Mode and place everything down, I will not waste the costly resources to build the defences when they are so meaningless. This is all tied with the mechanic that I simply must be there for all base defence missions which straight away contradicts the need for a base defence. Sure having the turrets and such in position enables the attackers to be killed off quicker. The fact that my Settlement with say 12 Settlers, and a number of turrets are unable to beat off 3 Raiders with Pipe Pistols and Road Leathers just baffles me, I can live with the attackers spawning inside but not being able to beat back a small group without me being there is plain wrong.

I would really like to see this aspect of settlements change. I would like Defences to actually mean something. I would like to be given the choice of either going to the settlement to assist or run the risk and let the Settlers/Defences take care of the matter. You could say that that choice already exists and you would be right, but as it stands now, if you don't go stuff is destroyed, no matter how much defence is in place, how many Settlers you have there or how they are equipped, if defence mattered then that may not be the case.

Also, for me, if this aspect changed it would slow down my rate of expansion. It would do so because I would not move to the next build until I was happy with the previous.

I agree with the point about bugs. I have not seen so much bugs in any game ever. What about being unimportant..It`s good for players who don`t want to bother with the settlements. But settlements could have some more usefull sides (bonuses) instead of punishing you for ignoring them. So it would be a motivation for those who want to build them and it would not affect those who don`t like the whole settlement thing. The idea about settlers with some history and skills is great, they also could level up by doing some certain jobs, so there would be some more reasons to save your old settlers . But I think it needs a lot of additional work , not sure if it`s possible to make at all. I would be happy if settlers would be a bit more "alive" and interactive , and if there would be more tasks for them ( like a barber , a singer, a fisherman or a hunter). My dream is to make a settler`s squad and to send them to do radiant quests instead of me . I don`t think it`s possible to make anything like this though.