Settlements Guide for
Fallout 4. This is a primer for how to get the most out of your
Settlements. If planned properly, settlements can be a very lucrative venture for players to spend time in. Familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of
Settlements and
Crafting. Read through those sections of the wiki first for a basic understanding of things like a
Workshop,
Structures,
Resources and more. All of those elements are the building blocks and in this guide we will explore how to put them all together.
As this is an organic and ever evolving guide, everyone should feel free to edit in their own suggestions.
If you're interested in putting some significant work into exploring settlement building in Fallout 4, there are a few basics first. And while any build can have some fun with settlements, be aware that
Charisma and
Intelligence based builds have a lot more tools at their disposal early on. If you plan to build a network of settlements, having 6 in Charisma for the
Local Leader
Perk is a must. But again, this is not a gamebreaker if you're already deep into your playthrough.
Do some spring cleaning, it's about 200 years overdue! Scavenge your settlement so that it is free from debris like
Ruined Houses,
Mailboxes,
Cars and more. Not only will it make your new real estate empire look more tidy, it's a great way to scavenge
Materials you need to begin constructing more useful
Structures and stuff your settlers need to thrive. Just walk around your settlement in Workshop mode and look around you. Things that can be scavenged or stored will be highlighted. Anything that can be scavenged will be highlighted in orange, anything that can be scavenged or stored will be highlighted in green.
You can also move objects around in Workshop view mode, so if you're planning on doing a lot of
Crafting, it may be a good idea to move all your stations and workbenches within close proximity of each other to minimize running back and forth. Just select a highlighted object with X/A and relocate it wherever you'd like.
Put a
Generator along one side of the house. Then create a "power pylon" from
Connectors and Switches somewhere close to the walls of the room you wish to power. Press Y/Triangle to connect a wire between the two. At this point, your power pylon now has an AOE energy charge. From this point on, if you put lamps, TVs, or lights inside the room (basically only a wall separates your pylon from the inside), they will draw current from the pylon almost as if it was a wireless device. It has a range of around 5-7 meters.
If you wish to continue powering the house, create a "conduit" from the
Power options. It's a small device that you can place either facing out from a wall, or hanging from a ceiling. Run this around 15 feet from your pylon and attach it to the outside of the house somewhere, then again, connect a wire between the pylon and the conduit. Essentially it's like an extension cord for the pylon's range, allowing you to power the next room down the line. The conduit takes fewer materials to build, so you can string them all around the house if you wish (but this would require a bigger genny).
Pro tip: If you want to test the existing range when you first place these items, just carry a TV set around with you. It will light up the screen as soon as you hit the AOE. If your light is in range it will light up as soon as you attach it to a wall and ceiling. Sometimes a new conduit isn't required; just move your light or appliance a few feet to one side.
You can attach several generators to a single Power Pylon to increase the power of that pylon. For example, if three medium-generators (5 power units each) are attached to a single pylon, the power value of that pylon would be the sum of the power values of the generators (15 power units in this case).
In larger settlements, you can build a Generator Room with a large Power Pylon on top of it. For better management and well, the generators are so loud!
Another aspect of settlement building is assigning jobs. When you put in crops and build defense posts, someone has to be assigned before the stat takes effect. If you put down a half dozen Tato plants, while in the building menu, look at a settler and press X/A to give them a command, then walk over to the plants and press the button again. It takes a second or two, but will say that the "task has been assigned". To double check, just look at the plant while in build mode. The "person" icon should be green, not red. I also discovered there is a handy way to see what any given settler's current assignment is. While in build mode, look at them so they have a green outline, and a task nearby should also turn green without you looking at it. For instance, I put a settler on a scavenging station, and did this when they were at least thirty feet away from it - the specific station turned green as well. I was able to assign a settler to a single scavenging station, but they seem to be able to cover two guard posts as long as they're close to each other.
Having trouble remembering who is assigned to what? Try equipping "uniforms" on your settlers specific to their tasks. Guard attire for guards, farm clothing for your crop workers, etc. Or give each job a certain hat.
Highlighting a settler (that is: holding your crosshair on a settler) will highlight everything assigned to him/her. For better managements, you can build a bell that calls settlers around it. You can better define jobs for the settlers this way.
Something I should mention is that in order to get settlements rolling you need to attract other people. This happens is if you build a radio beacon tower to send out a message across the wasteland. Unfortunately, one of the items required is hard to find - crystal. You need two units. Cameras are a good source. As soon as you find a crystal, make sure to tag it in your inventory so it shows up when you explore (also, pick up a lot of anything that has ceramic, like mugs and ashtrays, and copper, such as light bulbs and other electronics - you need a lot of this to create powered items).
Once the settlers start coming in, make sure you have 3 or 4 extra beds built at any given time, or else they'll move on. Just put them inside empty houses, or build some shacks. Make sure your food production always exceeds your population, and set up a water purifier down by the water in Sanctuary. Lastly, defense is important. Turrets cost more to build, but provide a lot of defense. In your settlement list on the pip boy, if any one place has an exclamation warning, that means this resource is lacking. I thought I had good defense, but it showed up as being a problem, so don't neglect it unless you want to return and find there's been a lot of raping and pillaging. Keep piling up turrets until the warning goes away.
Having a growing settlement can also have another benefit: traveling merchants. If you get yours going, then travel the road south out of Concord, you may see Trashcan Carla. Talk to her, buy a few things, and she'll start visiting your town regularly with supplies.
Trade networks are a good idea if you want to build good settlements, as it allows them to share
resources.
In order to establish a trade network you must have at least
Charisma level 6, the
local leader perk (rank 1), and a minimum of two settlements. Additionally you`ll need to assign a settler to that task. Make sure he/she is not assigned to do any other job, since they will no longer be able to do it! After selecting the settler in the workshop mode, an option will appear in the bottom to setup the supply line. Use that command, then the map section of the
Pipboy will appear, where you can choose which settlements to connect. After a few ingame hours it´ll be up and running by itself. You can see which settlements are connected by checking the map and activating the "view trade routes" option. It might be a good idea to connect all your
settlements in a circular trade route if possible.
Be on the look out at later times for
Synth infiltration of your
Settlements. A sudden unexplained drop in happiness may indicate the presence of syths. Pay close attention to new settlers as they come in and be on the look out for synth weapons. You may also scan your settlers in VATS searching for high energy resistance. If missed, they may begin to murder your population from the inside, similar to the
Afflicted Beggar in
Bloodborne .
A good rule of thumb for defense is to erect enough defensive structures to set your defense value to equal or greater than your food and water production value combined. So if your Food is at 10 and your Water is at 10, aim for a Defense of 20.
Set up defensive positions at key locations within your community, especially at entrances. Think defensively and try to anticipate enemy movements. Setting up chokepoints where you can funnel enemies will allow your settlers to concentrate their fire as opposed to an all out skirmish.
Setting up a series of water purifiers in a settlement that resides near a body of water is an effective way of generating caps income by selling the
Purified Water you obtain as a result.
Plant
Corn,
Tato, and
Mutfruit. You can combine these with
Purified Water at a Food Crafting station to create
Vegetable Starch (yields 5 adhesive).
You can find these ingredients most quickly at Graygarden or plant them in any settlement.
Have 1
Food for each person in your settlement. Each 6 plants can be attended by 1 Settler, who needs to be manually assigned in the
Workshop.
Mutfruit works the bests as they give 1 food. All other plants give 0.5.
Make sure you have enough water. You don't need water purifiers, simply enough for your people. This is rather easy to do.
Make sure you have enough beds per person. You can only have as many settlers in your
Settlements as you have (10 + CHA). Supposedly wearing
Armor with CHA will affect this value, but I haven't verified it. (you will need somewhere around 17 people to be considered a "large settlement".
Make sure you have enough
Defense. Turrets work best as they are cheap and easy and don't require settler to man them.
Power is not a requirement for happiness. Just make sure you have enough to power up what you need
You will need about 15 tier 3
Stores. These are about 1800 Caps each and will need one settler each to run them. It doesn't matter which tier 3 shops you build (as far as I can tell) as long as you build a LOT of them. So build ones you meet the requirements for.
Miscellaneous notes. 1) Apparently dogs increase happiness, so if you can purchase one from merchants do so, 2) If you have works who won't work, send them to a different
Settlement, 3) you can send settlers from other Settlements to the one you are working on, 4) spend time in your Settlement(s).
This is a long process. Happiness raises extremely slowly. Sleeping at your Settlement for long periods can help increase it faster if you have done all the things above.
As this is an organic and ever evolving guide, everyone should feel free to edit in their own suggestions.
Settlements Guide
Beginning Settlements Concepts
If you're interested in putting some significant work into exploring settlement building in Fallout 4, there are a few basics first. And while any build can have some fun with settlements, be aware that
Charisma and
Intelligence based builds have a lot more tools at their disposal early on. If you plan to build a network of settlements, having 6 in Charisma for the
Local Leader
Perk is a must. But again, this is not a gamebreaker if you're already deep into your playthrough.
Do some spring cleaning, it's about 200 years overdue! Scavenge your settlement so that it is free from debris like
Ruined Houses,
Mailboxes,
Cars and more. Not only will it make your new real estate empire look more tidy, it's a great way to scavenge
Materials you need to begin constructing more useful
Structures and stuff your settlers need to thrive. Just walk around your settlement in Workshop mode and look around you. Things that can be scavenged or stored will be highlighted. Anything that can be scavenged will be highlighted in orange, anything that can be scavenged or stored will be highlighted in green.
You can also move objects around in Workshop view mode, so if you're planning on doing a lot of
Crafting, it may be a good idea to move all your stations and workbenches within close proximity of each other to minimize running back and forth. Just select a highlighted object with X/A and relocate it wherever you'd like.
Providing Power
Put a
Generator along one side of the house. Then create a "power pylon" from
Connectors and Switches somewhere close to the walls of the room you wish to power. Press Y/Triangle to connect a wire between the two. At this point, your power pylon now has an AOE energy charge. From this point on, if you put lamps, TVs, or lights inside the room (basically only a wall separates your pylon from the inside), they will draw current from the pylon almost as if it was a wireless device. It has a range of around 5-7 meters.
If you wish to continue powering the house, create a "conduit" from the
Power options. It's a small device that you can place either facing out from a wall, or hanging from a ceiling. Run this around 15 feet from your pylon and attach it to the outside of the house somewhere, then again, connect a wire between the pylon and the conduit. Essentially it's like an extension cord for the pylon's range, allowing you to power the next room down the line. The conduit takes fewer materials to build, so you can string them all around the house if you wish (but this would require a bigger genny).
Pro tip: If you want to test the existing range when you first place these items, just carry a TV set around with you. It will light up the screen as soon as you hit the AOE. If your light is in range it will light up as soon as you attach it to a wall and ceiling. Sometimes a new conduit isn't required; just move your light or appliance a few feet to one side.
You can attach several generators to a single Power Pylon to increase the power of that pylon. For example, if three medium-generators (5 power units each) are attached to a single pylon, the power value of that pylon would be the sum of the power values of the generators (15 power units in this case).
In larger settlements, you can build a Generator Room with a large Power Pylon on top of it. For better management and well, the generators are so loud!
Assigning Jobs
Another aspect of settlement building is assigning jobs. When you put in crops and build defense posts, someone has to be assigned before the stat takes effect. If you put down a half dozen Tato plants, while in the building menu, look at a settler and press X/A to give them a command, then walk over to the plants and press the button again. It takes a second or two, but will say that the "task has been assigned". To double check, just look at the plant while in build mode. The "person" icon should be green, not red. I also discovered there is a handy way to see what any given settler's current assignment is. While in build mode, look at them so they have a green outline, and a task nearby should also turn green without you looking at it. For instance, I put a settler on a scavenging station, and did this when they were at least thirty feet away from it - the specific station turned green as well. I was able to assign a settler to a single scavenging station, but they seem to be able to cover two guard posts as long as they're close to each other.
Having trouble remembering who is assigned to what? Try equipping "uniforms" on your settlers specific to their tasks. Guard attire for guards, farm clothing for your crop workers, etc. Or give each job a certain hat.
Highlighting a settler (that is: holding your crosshair on a settler) will highlight everything assigned to him/her. For better managements, you can build a bell that calls settlers around it. You can better define jobs for the settlers this way.
Attracting Settlers
Something I should mention is that in order to get settlements rolling you need to attract other people. This happens is if you build a radio beacon tower to send out a message across the wasteland. Unfortunately, one of the items required is hard to find - crystal. You need two units. Cameras are a good source. As soon as you find a crystal, make sure to tag it in your inventory so it shows up when you explore (also, pick up a lot of anything that has ceramic, like mugs and ashtrays, and copper, such as light bulbs and other electronics - you need a lot of this to create powered items).
Once the settlers start coming in, make sure you have 3 or 4 extra beds built at any given time, or else they'll move on. Just put them inside empty houses, or build some shacks. Make sure your food production always exceeds your population, and set up a water purifier down by the water in Sanctuary. Lastly, defense is important. Turrets cost more to build, but provide a lot of defense. In your settlement list on the pip boy, if any one place has an exclamation warning, that means this resource is lacking. I thought I had good defense, but it showed up as being a problem, so don't neglect it unless you want to return and find there's been a lot of raping and pillaging. Keep piling up turrets until the warning goes away.
Having a growing settlement can also have another benefit: traveling merchants. If you get yours going, then travel the road south out of Concord, you may see Trashcan Carla. Talk to her, buy a few things, and she'll start visiting your town regularly with supplies.
Advanced Settlements Concepts
Setting Up Trade Networks
Trade networks are a good idea if you want to build good settlements, as it allows them to share
resources.
In order to establish a trade network you must have at least
Charisma level 6, the
local leader perk (rank 1), and a minimum of two settlements. Additionally you`ll need to assign a settler to that task. Make sure he/she is not assigned to do any other job, since they will no longer be able to do it! After selecting the settler in the workshop mode, an option will appear in the bottom to setup the supply line. Use that command, then the map section of the
Pipboy will appear, where you can choose which settlements to connect. After a few ingame hours it´ll be up and running by itself. You can see which settlements are connected by checking the map and activating the "view trade routes" option. It might be a good idea to connect all your
settlements in a circular trade route if possible.
Defending Your Settlements
Be on the look out at later times for
Synth infiltration of your
Settlements. A sudden unexplained drop in happiness may indicate the presence of syths. Pay close attention to new settlers as they come in and be on the look out for synth weapons. You may also scan your settlers in VATS searching for high energy resistance. If missed, they may begin to murder your population from the inside, similar to the
Afflicted Beggar in
Bloodborne .
A good rule of thumb for defense is to erect enough defensive structures to set your defense value to equal or greater than your food and water production value combined. So if your Food is at 10 and your Water is at 10, aim for a Defense of 20.
Set up defensive positions at key locations within your community, especially at entrances. Think defensively and try to anticipate enemy movements. Setting up chokepoints where you can funnel enemies will allow your settlers to concentrate their fire as opposed to an all out skirmish.
Creating a Lucrative Economy
Setting up a series of water purifiers in a settlement that resides near a body of water is an effective way of generating caps income by selling the
Purified Water you obtain as a result.
Plant
Corn,
Tato, and
Mutfruit. You can combine these with
Purified Water at a Food Crafting station to create
Vegetable Starch (yields 5 adhesive).
You can find these ingredients most quickly at Graygarden or plant them in any settlement.
Achieving 100% Happiness
Have 1
Food for each person in your settlement. Each 6 plants can be attended by 1 Settler, who needs to be manually assigned in the
Workshop.
Mutfruit works the bests as they give 1 food. All other plants give 0.5.
Make sure you have enough water. You don't need water purifiers, simply enough for your people. This is rather easy to do.
Make sure you have enough beds per person. You can only have as many settlers in your
Settlements as you have (10 + CHA). Supposedly wearing
Armor with CHA will affect this value, but I haven't verified it. (you will need somewhere around 17 people to be considered a "large settlement".
Make sure you have enough
Defense. Turrets work best as they are cheap and easy and don't require settler to man them.
Power is not a requirement for happiness. Just make sure you have enough to power up what you need
You will need about 15 tier 3
Stores. These are about 1800 Caps each and will need one settler each to run them. It doesn't matter which tier 3 shops you build (as far as I can tell) as long as you build a LOT of them. So build ones you meet the requirements for.
Miscellaneous notes. 1) Apparently dogs increase happiness, so if you can purchase one from merchants do so, 2) If you have works who won't work, send them to a different
Settlement, 3) you can send settlers from other Settlements to the one you are working on, 4) spend time in your Settlement(s).
This is a long process. Happiness raises extremely slowly. Sleeping at your Settlement for long periods can help increase it faster if you have done all the things above.
Anonymousok oo while im here I may as well ask about settlements.. soo here goes is there any way to make a trip wire switch on electric once its been triped? I want to set up some flame turrets but they go off 1x then are useless till u repair them so id like to have them connected to trip wire somehow so that when tripwire is triggered it switches on the flame throwers.. also how can I make the atackers attack me from outside my colony so they gotta cross bridge at sanctuary? or anywhere els for that matter or do they just randomly spawn. I tried changing my fast travel spot to see if that worked but still waiting on an attack to see
- Anonymous
Only 3 settlers are needed with 2 Tier 3 clinics, NOT 15 AS MENTIONED
- Anonymous
Wait! Synths can infilrate my Settlements and kill my settlers! Man, this game is full of surprises, I guess I'll have to take a better look at all my newest settlers from now on.
Load more
Bars > Medic > Trader for happiness increase
location of defenses is not really important as you described it. There are certain spawn points for when attacks happen. They will not need to be by the "entrance" to your settlement.
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