What works better, to have a networks constructed like a "star" with a central hub settlement with supply lines going out to each new settlement,

OR

Organizing them all into one big ring, or.... series of regional rings with a "tap in" line to each other ? Just wondering. Mine are getting kind of messy and need rearranging.

Rings or regional rings.

A hub option can work if you make sure to send provisioners FROM all of the settlements, rather than assigning settlers at that hub as provisioners. Provisioners count as settlers towards your settler maximum, and if all of them are coming from your hub, then you have much fewer to farm, operate vending booths, etc.

I usually do a snake, with the newest settlement sending a provisioner to the last one. Just seems like an easy enough pattern for me to follow.

I have everything wired through Starlight and/or The Castle. It just works, I don't ever need to look at my supply lines. Either I have the supplies I need, or I must not have one assigned.

I've set up three regional hub settlements in places that have enough room for the extra beds. I found it easier to upgrade the equipment of the provisioners by waiting for them at one location rather than having to run around to each settlement.

I set supply lines in a circular form. None of the supply lines link to a single point. It makes it easy to keep track of who is going where.

The best way is to have a star pattern with one central settlement where you dump all of your junk and materials. That way all other settlements can link to the one main base and have access to that junk. The snake system doesn't work because you're only getting access to the materials of the two settlements behind and ahead.

Without fast travel, you need at least two bases. One is Sanctuary of course for the beginning of the game, then you'll want a more central location so that you don't have to run back to Sanctuary every time you have junk to drop off. I use Hangman's Alley because it's very close to Diamond City and the center of the map. Yes it's a little crowded, but there is enough room as long as you build up.

That's not how it works. As long as there is a supply path that you can follow between any two settlements, all 30 have access to everything in the other 29 settlement workstations.

True. I've tested this several times.

Jayne is a girl's name.

That is unfortunate. I do regret that it happens in your game. The wiki very clearly indicates otherwise, but that doesn't mean you aren't getting some sort of glitch.

Um what? I was saying I agree with you. I can be short 10 aluminum, drop 10 aluminum at Sanctuary and my settlement in The Castle, 12 settlements down the snake can access it. Like I've said I've tested this.

Well, balls! My apologies for my reading comprehension error.

I went with a hub, well 3 hubs where all provisioners are based. This way the settlements I care about can have all hands on deck.

Did not know this, thanks. I've currently got a ridiculous star system going at Red Rocket, so I'll have several pack Brahmin running around and bundling through my garage door, then getting stuck in the interior doorway. Now gotta track down all my provisioners!

If I opted to make a hub, I think I'd use the Drive-In for at least one of them. Lots of open space. Unfortunately, Bunker Hill and Hangman's Alley are the most "central" settlements, but neither is super central, and Bunker Hill isn't available until spoilers. Oberland Station could be a close second. I do like how the provisioners consistently come in on that railroad track.


This page has a nice section on Supply Lines, with a simple map linking everything in a loop:

http://www.nonfictiongaming.com/2015/12/fallout-4-everything-you-need-to-know-about-settlements/

I originally started out using Sanctuary as the central hub for all my provisioners however I tired of the constant traffic at Sanctuary with 10-20 provisioners appearing at a time and clogging up with main entry point. Now I've gone for a web pattern connecting each settlement to the next closest settlement. I found this works much better as the provisioners are closer to their settlements and show up far more often during settlement raids. The only downside is that the game has lost some provisioners so I've got a couple of supply lines that work but the provisioners never appear at the settlements. Redoing all the supply lines was a bit of a nightmare as it was difficult to tell which provisioner went to which settlement. I had a list of all the settlements and used the move command and a process of elimination to determine the settlers home settlement, once that was determined I had a separate list of which settlements I wanted connected.

I feel your pain. I've tried everything to find the ghost provisioners.

I do wish they'd provide a menu to organise settler assignments. No idea how I'm going to find provisioners scattered everywhere.

If you are using a hub arrangement the easiest way is to simply wait at the center of your hub until each provisioner shows up. I strongly recommend making a list of settlements/provisioners and then marking them off as you set up the supply lines. Changing a piece of clothing (a hat is a good choice) on each provisioner makes it much easier to quickly tell whether you have already worked with that provisioner or not. All my provisioners wear combat armour so its easy to identify them when wandering through the wasteland. If you have a web arrangement then you need to make a list of settlements and wait at each settlement until the provisioners (hopefully) appear. If you are on the PC then you could use a mod to help locate your provisioners (the Where are my provisioners? mod works very well).

I have a few hubs (Sanctuary, Country Crossing, and Jamaica Plains) and star snakes leading to the corner settlements. I usually try to base a new provisioner at the new settlement on a route to the nearest settlement. Grew sort of organically (not pre-planned). Works just fine except when the game bugs out and supply lines disappear. Fast travelling to a spot out of the current zone fixes it.

I use Oberland Station and Finch Farm as hubs. It has something with the distance to the other settlements as well, but so far none caravan / supply folks have died. Some do weird stuffs, like swimming alot, but lack of bridges etc I do understand.

Cheers,

-Klevs

I used to have them all string into my main city. But, in the end I realized that's a bad idea. Those darn people and cattle path everywhere. I still like the star method, I just use a settlement I don't care about as the hub.

I originally did a hub at the Castle and Sanctuary. The Castle had the majority of settlements, so much like someone else said, it would get too congested. The doorway out the side was always clogged. I switched it up to a circle system, it was a pain getting all the settlers reassigned, but it got done. Though one of them I couldn't reassign and was also labeled as "settler", but I worked around it.

Thanks for the link, I going to use this method in my new character/game