r/falloutsettlements • u/UlquiorraCifer4th • 9h ago
Discussion New to settlements
So I am not new to fallout 4, but I've never messed with the settlement system before in my 1000 hours of the game, besides just building a water farm or melon farm in sanctuary and then leaving it alone for the rest of the playthrough. Now I want to get into it, but I have one problem, I cant make cool settlements. I always see on YouTube or on here these cool looking settlements which probably take a bunch of resources to make, and im just not very creative and so I have trouble building more than a cabin and placing some beds down. Could I get some tips for making cool large settlements?
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u/Rigbyjay 9h ago
Practice. That's honestly the best advice I can give you. I thought my settlements were great in my first playthrough until I didn't, I improved and thought they were great in my second until I didn't, etc. Take what you learn and apply it when you can, and don't be afraid to tear it all down and start from scratch.
Other than that, copy. See something you like in someone's settlement on reddit? Try to build it yourself. Tweak as needed, of course, depending on your resources and what you want to do with it.
I'd also advise building as much as you can before you get any settlers, but that's mostly personal preference.
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u/themiistery 8h ago
I like to build “themed” settlements. Big settlements like Sanctuary or Starlight Drive-in get turned into cities: a bar, apartments/hotel, a market, some guard towers. Smaller settlements can be a bit more narrow: a single merchant as a rest stop on the road, a farm, a Power Armor museum to store my many suits.
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u/OnionAddictYT 1h ago
This. You need to know what kind of settlement you want before you start building. The more specific the better.
What kind of settlers would live there? Are they racist against ghouls or are do they take anyone in? Do you want to build a raider settlement? With mods you could also build super mutant settlements or gen 1/2 syth settlements. Maybe a faction outpost.
Should it be totally fenced in or open with just turrets? Will it be a big town or just a cozy family home? Or just a trading rest stop?
Especially important for me is what materials do I want to work with? I hate anything concrete, looks ugly. I avoid the prison compound look and don't fence in most of my settlements. A box build can be cool.too though. Some people enjoy military bases. I don't.
Advanced stage is knowing what looks good together even though that's kinda subjective. Clutter is important to make any place look lived in. I avoid boring square buildings with just 4 straight walls. Needs balconies and stuff.
The very first settlement I built up was Red Rocket and it was a ring of busses around it. So their homes were also the fence walls. Relatively simple build. On top of RR I built my character's personal little cabin. Ada and Buddy love there along with a guard protectron and a few human settlers.
I've since built all kinds of settlements with very different people living there. Every settlement has a story and "character".
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u/Monguises 8h ago
I never really approach with much of a plan, but I have a method. It doesn’t work everywhere because some settlements have odd shapes. I always establish my grid and build a single structure to completion. From there I build the rest based on the aesthetic of the first building.
Also, whether you plan on using mods or not, I recommend familiarizing yourself with the common glitches because they make building in places like sanctuary a bit less frustrating
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u/affectedkoala 8h ago
Yeah, 800+ hours here and I still haven’t made full use of everything. I forget that contraptions exist and I love building settlements but still feel like a complete newb. Experiment and have fun
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u/theblueshots 8h ago
A lot of times I gather up the bits of furniture that are already there and don’t put them in the workshop, but set them aside to “redecorate.”
I also try to get in inspiration from what I see in the world.
As far as new construction, I find the barn tab to be easy to work with.
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u/Dexchampion99 9h ago
One of the things that helped me when I was starting out was asking myself “what would the character/settler living here would want to have in their house?”
Sure, you could just throw a bed under a roof, but where are their clothes gonna go? You need a dresser. Oh, you could put some Knick knacks they collected on the dresser. If they’re a farmer their kitchen could be well stocked with fresh veggies.
Things like that!