Settlements...settlements never change.

That's why I've decided to go it alone and leave Preston and his precious minutemen to their fate. It's also fun to sit on the outskirts of Sanctuary and take 'pop shots' at Preston or shot Mamma Murphy in the leg lol

I'm currently level 21 on survivor difficulty and I am doing the whole Lone Wanderer 'thing'. I've set up my base in Red Rocket near Sanctuary, Got Dogmeat as my sole companion and I couldn't be happier. I'm thinking of getting Home Plate as my holiday home and just relaxing for a few days taking in the sights of Diamond City or going super mutant hunting within the city limits - oh happy days!

No worrying about settlers and their 'happiness' no need to re-arm or cloth settlers in new gear - no pip boy watching or hand holding - no rushing to the defence of a settlement with more laser/heavy machine gun turrets than you could 'shake a stick' at.

I can just wander about, loot what 'I' need, modernise Red Rocket when I want (no defence, 1 bed, no water, no food - no settlement bug/glitches No 'companion' giving me a head ache about what he/she likes or does not like. I can just walk into a farm and take all the crops I want and not worry bout some random ghoul problem or kidnapping - I FEEL LIBERATED!!!

But seriously this is the most fun I've had in this game to date - all forced by the 'broken' mechanic that is called settlements. I won't go into details as it's covered in length through out this forum and the internet as a whole - I am sad though as I actually enjoy the settlements (apart from radiant quests/hand holding when they are attacked) so I'm going to give it a miss till it is fixed by Bethesda.

Tell you one thing though. I can understand why those scavengers are so protective of their scrap - been a real pain getting crops for adhesive and stuff for upgrades. Just came up against two deathclaws and an assaultron whilst I was getting my 'tribute' from Abernathy so lead the surviving deathclaw to Abernathy - you can guess the fun that happened then until I got bored and shot the deathclaw in the head with my sniper rifle

Give it a go folks - lone wanderer on survivor and no settlements - prepare to bleed!!!!!!

Yeah, it's fun to run around not burdened by Preston and his army of useless maggot-goons. :3 Just you, the dog, and the whole wild Commonwealth to make the two of you munchy-munchy dinner.

Best thing is I can take the 'lone wanderer perk' and still have dogmeat as a companion - now got 415 carry weight (deep pockets) which goes down to 410 in power armour - go figure - and that's with (if I remember rightly) 1 level in strong back and 1 level in the lone wanderer perk - either 6/7 strength.

Currently just constructing my power armour garage on top of Red Rocket - best thing about red rocket - the super mutants/raiders don't spawn too close so I can snipe them from the porch or blocked off front door way - bliss - also hear gun fire coming from sanctuary ever now and then and have a laugh at their expense lol

For me this is truly an 'open world' experience

Yea, I'm a Loner as well, doing it my own way and as I feel like it. Yep, three settlements, cos I felt like it..... and apparently that's an 'achievement' according to Steam, woopee. Did a bit of BOS, haven't touched the 'City' yet, too busy.

doing the same for my 2nd round. I did try my best to have Sanctuary hit 100% happy first, but they still won't, so eff them. now I got the Island to myself and Meatwad.

That's the sweet life, mate! I'm definitely making my next playthrough more of a solo mission. Just grab the companion perks and send them back to where they came from. I'll have to wait until there's a mod out that let's you send companions back to their place of origin instead of having to pick a settlement.

you can just push 'tab' when the window pops up and they will go back to their place

at least if you didn't send them to a settlement before

Uh, you can send them back to whereever you picked them up. When the settlement lists comes up just press out of the selection instead and they will go back to the original location.

If you press TAB instead of ENTER to confirm. Some will go to Settlements though, the ones that don't have a home. Like Maccready, but Piper and Nick should return to Diamond City.

Further EDIT - If you have selected a Settlement as their home previously, they will always go there, but if you never did that they will go to the default place. Tested in game now.

Shooting Mama Murphy I like her.

I've had Super Mutants spawn consistently at my Red Rocket home.. Suiciders more than once. Had to make a fence around it.. At least npc's can't jump over them so keep Suiciders OUT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMg9UX6CmRI

-edit-

I too left Preston and his band of weirdos behind.

I know, and that's the problem.

The super mutants seem to spawn on the road leading to sanctuary (for me anyway) and my 'home' in the red rocket is within the actual building structure with a 2 storey extension to the side (only entrance from within Red Rocket) and a ladder leading to the roof and my power armour garage. It's all confined with a certain area so no spawning mobs in my home. All doors that give access from outside are blocked so nobody can get in and even got fences in the two open windows so blocks line of sight for mobs.

it helps her beat her chem addiction - she's too busy dodging my bullets

How does dog get in then?

vid? I would love to see your house.

ok you made me laugh but I still like mama lol

enter build mode - move a fence out of the way - order dogmeat in and then replace the fence or alternatively place a fast travel mat within the garage and just FT in - simples

Brilliant!

Just watched your video - you've got your extension on the same side as me

I wanted it to line up with that door. Codsworth had issues getting in if I put stairs there. -s- Thanks.

nice idea!

but how did you get a working door on your house?

I had no idea that you could use the lone wanderer perk and still use Dogmeat! You don't lose the perk when you do? It's just everyone else?

This sounds like a good way play. Most of the companions are a pain.

If i go another play-through this will be the way to go. That is if... :]

So far in my current play-through I've not ever sent a companion to any settlement and they've done a pretty good job of going back to their homes. MUCH better this way. Why the heck just sending them home isn't an option is beyond me.

I've had some SM attacks there also, and I've got 0 settlers, 0 food and 0 water there. I finally had to add some turrets just to keep them off while I'm working inside. Hadn't thought about putting a short fence around though, may have to try that.

Even Dogmeat can be very annoying if you plan to play "stealthy" like myself.

Now there's an idea for a post apocalyptic sandbox game, trying to survive as the last man on Earth.

The title of thread reminds me of an article called, 7 Earthly Pleasures of an Old Soul

http://beforeitsnews.com/power-elite/2015/07/7-earthly-pleasures-of-an-old-soul-2449386.html

Only works with dogmeat - all other companions negate the effect of the lone wanderer perk - I guess that's why they also have to strong back perk as well for those who enjoy having an annoying, moralistic bullet sponge NPC hanging about them in the Wasteland