Riddle me this: Why do people like settlement building? To me it's just tedious - put a wall here, a flowerpot there, and a turret over there. If I wanted that, I'd get a job as an interior decorator. In fact, settlement building is so tedious to me that I consider it work - I should get paid to do this stuff. And I hate having to do it as a prominent, almost required, part of a game, Games are supposed to be fun, not work. Obviously, at least some people consider it fun, but I just don't understand the attraction.

So can someone tell me what's fun about spending hours and days constructing virtual shantytowns? I'd rather be out exploring, finding cool, unique loot and meeting interesting NPCs instead of "interacting" with boring, generic settlers, and constantly struggling with scant resources. Inventory management and crafting svcks away enough of my time as it is.

to genuinely answer your question:
it's a simulator, like Sim City or better yet Fallout Shelter, plus it allows those that want to be creative the ability to express themselves and have customization over this simulator
some other uses could include support from Minutemen (flare gun-i have yet to really use this so i'm not sure how great it works) and makes it much easier to craft things

and...
you can completely ignore them if you want to

also, if you want to see just how many people are really into this sort of thing, look into Minecraft (a game that i would never play, but a TON of people do, mainly for the ability to create massive structures); there was even an interview between Todd Howard and the Minecraft creator guy where they talked a little about this

I'm sort of in your boat. Ever since they revealed this feature I had almost no interest. I do, however, like building my own personal base. And I'm not talking about loading it down with crops and heavy defenses, just building up my own little home to stash all the crap I loot while I'm out there. It's one of the reasons I'm pretty pissed they didn't bother trying to fix the custom decorating issues that have been present in previous games, it's about as in depth as I get with the whole settlement thing.

It's all in how you imagine things. For example I'm doing a settlement building playthrough where I'm building up the start of a nation. Its like seeing the NCR grow. That's not the main reason why I play the game though. I play the game because of the freedom of choice and rpg (even if the rp was dumbed down ). The point is I like to build something and be able to have it comparable to diamond city or goodneighbor.

It's fun?

Really.

It's fun.

It also adds a nice sense of accomplishment to character development. You make real, concrete changes and improvements to your world.

I consider each Settlement to be an extension of my character, like an extra S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attribute or extra Perk that I can level up or a cool Gun I can mod.

I don't know why I enjoy it. I just do. But I find it's more rewarding if you are part of the minutemen

It is in-game modding, an outlet for creativity. It is an activity that is not just mindlessly killing things. It is role playing.

I really enjoy it, but I can understand why many people wouldn't. The good thing is that it's at least mostly optional.

I enjoy it because I can look at an area and come up with a vision of what it COULD be, and then do my best to make that vision a reality. I like having bases scattered around the map that I can go to and actually enjoy visiting. It creates an entirely new layer of realism to me. If one was actually in this situation, building a settlement would be a logical thing to do. One wants to have people to create a mutually supporting community with. Being able to build it in the way that you'd like, rather than just crashing in whatever structures already exist, makes the game much more immersive in my opinion. I don't get anywhere near as extravagant as some people. I'm not building blimps, airships, 15 story buildings, or gigantic shopping malls. But I'm building functional communities that provide a comfortable place that will attract settlers.

Various things like the flare gun to call for support or the ability to call in artillery strikes are only going to be effective if one has settlements all around the map. If you're at the Glowing Sea and you're trying to use the flare gun to get support, it's going to come from Somerville Place. It's not going to come from Sanctuary. The same is true for the artillery strikes. I haven't used either of these features much at this point, but they're cool bonuses that can be helpful at times.

It needs improvement. But, building a cool fort is fun. I like to build elevated spiral entrances into my forts where the AI has to walk a tiny path in full view of turrets settlers the entire time.

It's a meta-game thing for me. Since I've decided to take my role as a leader seriously, I build settlements whenever I can.

Don't get me wrong, they aren't pretty. Beds are placed in bunk houses, 20 under one roof surrounding a central common area when I can build that large otherwise I build upwards but still keep it simple. I throw faction flags on the walls, some nice cat pictures, wire up some lighting, give them a clinic, a bar and a clothier and surround the entire thing with enough firepower that I don't have to keep skipping back to defend them and if I do the missile launchers take care of things before I can even move from the quick travel point.

I only go back when I have to, as long as they stay above 70% happiness I'm content. I'll swing through a different settlement every time I need to dispose of loot and junk and collect my caps.

Once I started to ensure I had enough material on hand to fully build an entire settlement from the ground up, it became easy. I just wish I didn't have to loot so many clothes to tell me which settlers have been assigned tasks and which haven't. I've raided Raider and Gunner outposts just to get harnesses to put on my settlers.

So, riddle me this... Why do some people spend large portions of their lives learning to paint with oils, Write a novel, or play difficult riffs on a guitar, or spend years designing buildings that range from tiny homes to skyscraqers?

Creative people have a need to create, simple as that. I also like the idea that I can add something to my game world that is unique to me, my character, and my game style. Nobody else has a settlement just like mine, and that means in a sense, I own it. It's running that I find hard to understand...

I want to be King, but since it is not possible in real life, I would at least like to do it in the game.

Idk, I supose it's it's own game, it doesn't involve much exploration but Bethesda's games normally let you be creative with how you play and what you do. I like that aspect of their games a lot, they stimulate my creativity. In some other Beth games I've installed mods similar to this feature and I have spent weeks focused only on that aspect. But they weren't as complete as this. It's nice to see they took crafting and building this far in the game. Although I admit they probably didn't do it out of fun, they probably did it because they were taking ideas from other games and adding stuff that they thought that could be popular, not because they enjoy it themselves. Otherwise I don't know why they let your settlers get kidnapped and killer even if you fill the place with defense everywhere simply because you was not there. I don't consider that aspect of this feature fun at all.

You have 2 Choices in Fallout:

- paying every Day 10 Bottle Caps and sleeping somewhere (but not owning that Property)

or

- make your own Home with automaticly shooting Defences, Workbenches and Chests for storing

It depend on your Playstyle. If you play like the Protagonist in Book of Eli, just beeing the cool shooting Guy, then of course you dont like. After the Vault you cant go back in the Pre-War Time. So the Commonwealth is your new Home. Tell me a realsitic View. Now think this Story happend really to you. What woudl you do when you enter the first Time the Commonwealth? How is it possible for you to stay alive? I think no one of us here in the Forum woudl just shoot People for getting Food (Raider Way). We all would start to search a quit Place where we can stay. And when you found it then you need to think about getting food, and then the planting starts (ofcourse you must search some seeds before) but thats survival.

Settlement building is not required to complete the main quest, and 98% of the game's content.

If you simply do not interact with Preston after he goes to Sanctuary, then you will not be required to

do anything with settlements. As for the settlements you discover, if you do not complete their quest that unlocks the settlement for you, then you will not be responsible for them. You simply avoid the triggers, and then you're relieved of the tedium. You can still explore the areas where the settlement quests would take you, and not miss anything except the associated quest completion experience.

If you complete a settlement quest by accident, then don't turn it in; You will not unlock the settlement.

I'm currently running a no settlement game at the moment. Works fine. No issues, no protection duties, and no building required.

To each their own. Like I don't understand why people like to manage inventory in games or bother with merchanting in MMOs; I have to do enough organizing and trying to make money IRL.

But to answer your question more directly: Some people like to build? It's like why people play with Legos for example. Do you view Legos as a huge chore as well?

Well...to be honest, I could explain my reasoning for enjoying building settlements...but, unfortunately I cannot understand it for you...

Some people will enjoy it, as there are people who enjoy EVE Online...a game I personally dislike.

Like it or not there is a huge fanbase that loves the whole build/rebuild and protect the forte idea. I love it because it gives me more control of my game and it's environment. The building the settlements help sell more copies.

After a while, killing things gets tedious to me. There's only so many times you can go into an office building and shoot the raiders before it feels like a chore. Building up the settlement gives me tangible evidence of the impact I'm making on the Wasteland, and more importantly, making an impact in the way I've decided to-

-If I want to build a nice looking place, I can. If I want to build my own Tower of Babel, more power to me.

Granted, i think we're incredibly limited in the actual crafting system for settlements. Between the size restrictions and the lack of decorating options, I think it's horrendously shallow when you compare it to how much it seemed to be advertised and talked about at E3.

Because Bethesda games are more fun for creative people.

This is probably the best answer to OP's question. I think OP is more upset because he thinks it's mandatory.

Aside from not triggering settlements in the first place, if you don't wanna build/defend a town then don't. It's not going to ruin the game for you. Don't blame the game just because you don't like not being able to be in control of everything.

Someone went and bolted Minecraft to Fallout, and it has eaten my life.

My boss is lucky I've even been going to work.

You don't really need to expand any of the settlements. So if you don't like it: drop a few defensive turrets, relocate the fast travel marker, and be done with it.

Apart from some expanding with is related to quests, everything else you do in the workshop is fully optional.

Personally, I find it very tedious. The building of stuff is ok-ish using the console to tlc, and mods like homemaker and ssix to give more building options. For me it's mostly the management of settlers which is a cumbersome, clunky, uninformative experience.

In my experience, unassigned settlers will eventually just assign themselves to unassigned crops. At that point I can just pull any of my farmers and assign them to a scavenging station or defensive post, and eventually an unassigned settler will show up and take their place on the farm. I really don't think about it too much. Wish we could build a player exclusive bed that other settlers won't touch, though.

It was cool to have a house in Morrowind.

Same principle applies.