So don't build anything. You're not required to (okay, except that one time where you have to build something to complete a quest). Why do you want to restrict the rest of us who we enjoy it?

I don't understand. And I'm so sad that others do not approve of my love. It's like Mom meeting my first wife all over again.

I do it to spite you lol. God forbid people like something you don't

Because I'm a masochist.

Because this is supposed to be a seried about how humanity rises from it's greatest destruction and tries to rebuild, so an optional mechanic to grow civilizations fits perfect. It just needs improvement.

I don't know, maybe because a high level character that's done the main quest and most if not all side quests got bored with just exploring and meeting NPC's and killing things? Why not have something else to do in between? Why is variety a bad thing?

I remembered spending hours decorating my homes in the vanilla version of Skyrim, especially when my character got to high level and ran out of things to do. To this day I still use mods to adds new towns, expand existing towns, which in turn added more NPC's. In FO4, it's part of the game from day one; I don't have to wait for the Creation Kit and mods to have that functionality. I don't see a problem here.

I probably won't, if I ever went through a second playthrough........... i found it completely useless it has no impact on the game plot whatsoever........

I feel the same way. The only problem with the houses in Morrowind, Oblivion and even Skyrim is that they're isolated. With the settlement system you feel connected to the rest of civilization, and more importantly, you can shape it.

First of all, I do understand that different people have different tastes. I'm simply trying to understand the attraction of the settlement features. Some good points have been raised. I recognize that some folks will get a sense of accomplishment bringing civilization back to the Commonwealth. I also understand the idea that it's a creative outlet for some people - though my personal preference would be for more attractive settlements than are possible with the existing workshops. Mods may fix that.

But it's all so bloody tedious. This feature seems like an obvious ploy by Bethesda's marketing department to cater to the Minecraft crowd. (That's right, not a fan.) It feels tacked on and cumbersome, and needs some serious streamlining, a dedicated settler management screen and a few real tutorials. Or at least an auto-build button to create some basic buildings and defenses, provided you've got the resources. And it all seems out of place in a franchise that has traditionally been about role playing, not city planning.

My beef with the feature is that if you're playing a good guy or gal, and you get a distress call, you're going to feel obligated to respond. And in order to ensure the settlement can defend itself, you're going to have to (ever so tediously) build it up. With the knowledge I've garnered here, I think I'm going to build Sanctuary up a bit, ignore Preston Garvey, and let the rest of the world fend for itself - and try not to feel like a heel.

Well it worked on me. Of course I've never played Minecraft (frankly I don't even know what it looks like so I probably wouldn't recognize it if you showed it to me). I'm just an organizer in real life so it appeals to me.

It is interesting to me how people react to change. The argument that "this is an 'x-genre' so there shouldn't be any 'y' in it" just doesn't make sense to me at all. Good games innnovate, not 75% but at least 25 maybe 30%. Seems like they've hit at about that mark. Plus it is effectively optional. You do not have to build a single settlement item to finish any of the quests except the Minutemen. Even there, you could if you chose, build the generator and Radio beacon to finish each quest, then scrap it and leave it empty or leave its original residence to their own devices. You will get the distress calls for help, but you could also ignore those.

It actually might be interesting for one of you guys who do not like the settlement system to try a play through like that and see how it turns out. I wonder if you cannot finish the whole Minuteman quest line and basically have nothing but the settlers at each places start and virtually nothing else built. I guess you would have to build some beds and food and get the defense rating at Sanctuary up a bit in order to progress through Minute man quests.

There are quite a few, mostly that add new objects and things.

One I do use is Spring Cleaning - it allows you to select all the random debris and scrap it. This was one of the things that really bugged me, people were living in these houses / settlements and couldn't be bothered to clean out all the fallen leaves and debris.

Quick example: https://imgur.com/gallery/M1MHF

That was pretty Ruth less.

It adds depth to the game if it has no use to you don't use it

I think one issue that really hasn't been mentioned is that Beth's games already come with a dedicated group of creative people who like to make changes in the game world. That is to say those of us who like to create mods.

I fell in love with Morrowind, and played it for a couple of years before it got a little stale. Once that happened, I then spent another three or four years primarily creating mods for Morrowind. I got at least as much entertainment value out making mods as I had from playing the game. I didn't mod Oblivion much, but I made mods for FONV and Skyrim and I love tinkering with things. Retexture this, write a little script for that, create custom housing, weapons, and armor and in the end, you have an entirely altered gaming experience that is completely your own.

I only released perhaps 5% of the mods I created over the years for one reason or another, but I made many mods for my own personal use. Those of us who create mods have been (in a sense) settlement building for years, eh? and it's actually much more rewarding than simply playing the game.... and I would go so far as to say that I really am not very interested in playing a game I can't create mods for. Never played Minecraft, and haven't a clue about it at all though.

If the settlement system wasn't so broken, I might like it better.

I'm not sure of things have changed with Microsoft buying Minecraft. But in the beginning Mojang wanted the community to make mods and often implemented the mods into the actual game. Minecraft is one of the most modded games in the market. Most people don't even bother playing Vanilla Monecraft anymore.

I thought this might come up. I've made a few mods myself, but I don't really consider them creative. My first mod was for Morrowind, too. The default walking speed was so flipping slow, I came up with a really simple mod to speed up my pace. My mods are enhancements to game mechanics or to existing items, such as adding some interesting features to Daedric artifacts. I hesitate to call them creative, though. I'm not really doing something original, just adding a bit of a twist to existing items and mechanics.

I'm hoping some enterprising modders who enjoy the building system pump out some prefab communities for those of us who don't enjoy the construction process...

All I do now is plonk down a dozen or so turrets, plant some crops, get some water going, place a bunch of beds and lastly a recruitment tower and generator.

Why do all my settlements look like shanty towns?

Why can't I build places that look like Covenant with my wood, steel and cinder blocks.

I feel like a slumlord. My shantytowns do not improve the look of the commonwealth they are eyesoars.

No wonder I keep getting attacked... the Allistair Tenpenny Society keeps paying mercenaries to level my settlements for the slums they are.

Google "Fallout 4 settlement building" click videos. Change the search results to show only videos uploaded in the last 24 hrs. If any part of Fallout 4 can be considered a runaway success it's settlement building, even with all it's issues. I think it's fairly likely it will see improvement and enhancement going forward.

Sorry if you're a person who doesn't enjoy it, but it's a thing that many people are finding enjoyable.

You can assign each settler to their own beds, and they won't touch yours.

Settlement building is EVIL. Oh sure, it starts innocently enough, throw down a couple of turrets and plant a few crops, I can quit at any time. Then, before you know it, it's on to the harder stuff, shack building, electrification, addition of rec rooms etc. I am looking to see if there is a 12 step program in my area because I need help, "Hi, I am Joe and I am a settlement builder".

But it's not broken. It works fine once you understand the mechanics. I'm on my 4th runthrough and enjoying it again. But, then, I don't build elaborate castles, work farms and harems. I just build settlements to offer some peace and safety to a few people in this wasteland that have nothing.

I never expected more.

Because Minecraft is one of the most popular games of all time OP

You're not doing it right. Mine never look like shanty towns. I wouldn't allow it.