What do you guys think ? I think it would make the looting process way easier.

Well they do if you set up a supply chain between them (needs rank 1 local leader perk to unlock the option.)

Yeah but thats only between settlements. And it requires a perk so it's not super great.

It's not alot, especially for what it gives and how convenient it makes things, and it's not like your levels are limited either.

Not true. That's what your promised, but I can't see items stored at other settlements. This, despite the fact that I have local leader and all of my settlements linked via trade routes.

Same is true with the promise of shared resources. Food seems to stay local.

Bugs?

Yeah, my understanding is it only shares what's stored in your workshop inventory. I gather food and resources are not shared, just workshop inventories.

Can't honestly say I've mucked about with it too much yet to know the specific limits (just got the perk, don't have all that many settlements running right now.)

I would love it if the various work stations would allow ONLY those items that get used by that work station. Either as raw materials (e.g. leather) or as items that scrap down to appropriate raw materials (e.g. leather armor). [There would, of course, be the problem that many scrappable items break down to components that get used by several work stations.] I find that being able to use any work station as a storage locker for EVERYTHING is kind of ludicrous. Overburdened when you are over by the Crafting station? Store the excess stuff there, then cross the settlement to the Chemistry station and retrieve everything there.

Food and water are definitely shared, and 'Junk' items stored in the workshop inventory are as well (but not weapons, armor, etc).

I find that food items I put in the Cooking station appear in the Crafting station as well. Which is silly, when you stop to think of it. Do flowers and vegetables make good lubricants or something?

I've fed huge amounts of items from every category in the workshop.

None of it seems to share among the settlements. -yes, I have local leader 2 and they're all linked up.

I like how it's done, all local workshop share the same inventory and you can optionally share them between settlements via a Perk (Local Leader). I'm usually a "hardcoe" player, limiting myself from fast traveling, eating/drinking and blahblahblah but I think the way it is done is a very good compromise for a vanilla experience.

As for why it doesn't work for some people, I have no idea. Everything I put in a workshop (weapons, gears, food, anything!) is shared locally and globally between my settlements (if linked with a supply route to my network). It is shared instantaneously once the supply route is assigned.

Help menu in-game explains all of this quite clearly. Inventories are shared between settlements that are linked. Other supplies are also shared if there is an excess in one place and a deficit in another. Pretty straightforward.

In fact, the answer to your rhetorical question is a resounding "YES". Ever hear of petroleum products? Oil is made from decomposing organic compounds (e.g., animal and plant life).

Lots of folks are reporting otherwise. Reading the manual doesn't stack up to empirical testing.

I know what the help menu (and my Prima guide) say about this- but in practice, it's just not happening.

Again.. I have local leader 2. All my settlements are linked up with assigned setters. I have loads of items (all categories) in my workstations that do not appear in other settlements.

..Not so straightforward.

Then it's a bug, report it properly. I, and many others, have tested it. If you are certain your supply route are done correctly and it's not working, it's a bug. I have not heard of anyone having this bug if it was setup correctly... yet.

In fact I abuse it and items ALWAYS show up instantly between all my settlements.

Except that in this game, flora is NOT being used for that purpose. So why should unlike categories be "filed" in the same place? Weapons and weapon mods go here. Armor and armor mods go there. Culinary items are stored in the Culinary Department. The Pharmacy and Chemistry Department are unique enough that they have their very own storage room. Or at least, that's the way it should be IMHO.

I think both sides here are getting hung up on wording and talking past each other.

What I have happening in my game is what I understood the help text to mean - and to avoid confusion over assumed understanding of definition, I will explicity define what I see happening,

All sides agree what happens when supply lines are not set up, so that part is case closed.

With supply lines setup, what I see is:
A- SUPPLIES are shared between linked settlements
B- complete INVENTORY is not
C- Excess food/water is deposited into shared inventory and usable for CRAFT purposes between linked settlements, but is not counted for settlement NEEDS purposes

Supplies = all materials used for crafting and building. If every scrap of resource is at sanctuary, and you are at red rocket with zero items in local inventory, raw leather as well as any whole parts that contain leather will be supplied by the sanctuary supply line link when you are at red rocket crafting leather armor.

The supply line not only passes raw leather, but initiates the auto breakdown of leather containing whole parts if that is needed.

inventory = supplies is a subset, but other portion is what i will call 'finished goods'. Finished goods like a table or chair you made and stored in sanctuary are shared locally in samctuary but is not available via supply line. If you make 10 power conduits and store them in samctuary, they will not be available at red rocket.

You can build new power conduits at red rocket using the shared supplies between the two, but you cant access the stored inventory (aka finished goods) and just plop down the pre-made consuits.

Basically, the provisioner brahmin are carry raw supplies back and forth, not desks amd chairs.

yeah what i found. is that the supplies like gears and screws etc are shared, but all the stashed weapons and armour etc in my workbench are not shared.

thats disappointing.

Grab Scrapper perks, remove mod if gear, break any and all down to raw material drop on ground then scrap (haven't found a better solution) store in workbench.

Grab Local Leader perks, link settlements establish supply lines berween them.

OR

Wait for Amazon drone delivery mod from nexus.

Are you noticing things like steel and wood being shared also?

I have linked Sanctuary and Castle. I can see the link on the map,so I know it is there.

Sanctuary has over 300 steel and Castle only 56.

Are these supposed to be shared between settlements, as well?

Doesn't appear that they are, in my game.

I think they should just allow sharing at all unlocked workbenches..if I put 100 steel in one settlement, I would like to see it at another..or at least do the mail drop box thing like NV had and be able to ship what you need..also I would have limited the number of junk material to like six..and have the junk items being deposited into a workbench be scrapped right away..

Yes. Yes, they do.

Some of the junk items double as quest items, so scrapping right away might not be a good idea.

How do you link settlements, out of curiosity? I'm on my second character now, having done what I intended with the first (a relatively quick run of the 'main' quest line to get a feel for it before making a dude to focus on side stuff). Anyway, the second character is focused on settlement building, but I don't know how to link them, and it hasn't been explained in game, etc. Does it require completing a certain mission to liberate a certain stronghold before the option becomes available? I already have the local leader perk, also, both ranks.

After you get local leader open the workshop mode, highlight a settler, and there's a button you hit. The right button should be displayed as an available action with the others at the bottom of the screen.

Resident Evil like safe boxes with a shared inventory would be awesome.