Fallout 4 Settlements/Resources

Resources are produced by and required for settlements

Background
Specific statistics need to be maintained to sustain or stagnate the growth of a settlement.

Food

 * How much food the settlement is producing. Increased by placing food resources. The settlement needs one unit of food per settler to keep the settlers happy. (Most plant objects produce 0.5 units of food, Mutfruit being the exception.)
 * Every 24 in-game hours and several real-time minutes, independent of the timer for the food resource to be manually harvestable by the player character again, and subject to a minimum elapsed real time, every food resource assigned to a farmer in excess of population needs will generate roughly 0.75 food items of the same type for every whole unit of excess food production of that type, which will be added to the settlement's workshop inventory. The exact food type produced is affected by the settlers' preference for consuming certain food types (e.g. tatoes). The figure of 0.75 is affected by settlement happiness and the presence of brahmin.
 * Excess food will not be automatically stored in the workshop at any settlement whose workshop already contains more than 10 food items (including items that cannot be produced by settlement resources, like meat, gumdrops, etc). This cap on excess food storage increases by 1 per settlement population.
 * Dependencies: people, water. Crops will die without water.

Water

 * How much water the settlement can produce. The settlement needs one unit of water per settler to keep the settlers happy.
 * Single pumps produce small quantities of water; large scale water manufacturing is possible, but the large pumps and purifiers (both normal and industrial grade) require materials, power, and a body of water in which to operate.
 * Every 24 in-game hours and several real-time minutes, subject to a minimum elapsed real time, a settlement regardless of population will produce roughly 0.75 purified water per unit of water production in excess of population requirements (if any). This water will be stored automatically in the settlement's workshop. The figure of 0.75 is affected by settlement happiness.
 * Excess water will not be automatically stored in the workshop at any settlement whose workshop already contains more than 5 drink items (including items that cannot be produced by settlement resources, like dirty water, alcohol, etc). This cap on excess water storage increases by 1 per every 4 units of settlement population.
 * In Survival mode, manual water pumps (only) can be used by the player character to satisfy thirst and convert empty bottles to purified water.
 * Water pumps and purifiers, both large and small, are susceptible to damage during raids and may need to be repaired in case of an attack.
 * Dependencies: power (only with water purifiers and powered pumps).

Power

 * Generated power is used to operate anything that needs electricity, including lights and defense turrets.
 * Power is required for some turrets, traps, lights, and furniture items.
 * Generators are connected via wire. Each wire costs 1 copper unit, regardless of length. Distance is limited and power pylons and relays, or multiple generators, may be required to power larger grids.
 * Repair generators after attacks, they are the main target
 * Dependencies: n/a

Beds

 * The number of beds in the settlement. The settlement needs one bed per settler to keep the settlers happy; ideally, the bed should be covered from rainfall.
 * Settlers normally assign themselves to available beds automatically upon arrival or as beds are built. It is possible that settlers will not assign themselves to a bed unless the total needs for all settlers are met. After additional beds are built, it may be necessary to manually assign all settlers to individual beds.
 * In some settlements with preexisting beds, such as Abernathy farm, Tenpines Bluff, and Covenant, settlers often require manual bed assignments. Others such as Sunshine Tidings Co-op work automatically. Problem settlements may show a proper amount of beds in the building overlay, but settlers may comment on the bed situation and settlement happiness will be negatively affected.
 * Even in settlements that do not start with preexisting beds, it is possible for happiness to suffer without settlers complaining, simply because they have not automatically assigned themselves to beds. Manually assigning beds to ensure each settler has a bed is a good way to ensure there are no hidden negatives dragging down happiness.
 * Scrapping/disabling/ignoring all preexisting beds in a settlement and building new ones in their place may help avoid this problem from the start. To disable a bed on PC, enter the console, click on the preexisting bed, type, then exit the console and build a new bed in its place. This can also be done to a bed that will not accept manual assignments. Otherwise, building additional beds equal to the preexisting ones may be required.
 * To quickly identify all settlers without a bed, sleep or wait until midnight when settlers other than guards and provisioners will go to bed. Any others left awake require manual assignment.
 * Assigning a job to a settler in a problem location may cause their bed assignment to be lost, so assign jobs before manually assigning beds.

Defense

 * Measures the defensive improvements the settlement has based on settlement buildings with defense ratings. Only provided by defenses built at a workshop; mines do not count toward settlement defense rating, even though they can destroy attacking forces if the player character is also present. Some creatures are able to be captured using cages (featured in Wasteland Workshop), which also add to the defense rating, such as deathclaws and yao guai. The settlement needs one unit of defense per settler to keep the settlers happy.
 * Defensive improvements range from fortifications, which require assigning a settler as a guard, to autonomous turrets (small turrets run on their own power, while larger ones require separate power sources), as well as an assortment of traps.

Settlers

 * The population of the settlement. People are required to collect from resource units and man objects the Sole Survivor builds. Each settlement has a default max population of 10 settlers plus each point of Charisma the character has, which has a base max of 22 (10 from leveling and +1 from bobblehead and You're SPECIAL! magazine respectively ) before factoring in extra charisma from armor and consumables. A radio beacon is generally required to attract more settlers, but one can send companions to settlements and can recruit a few non-companion characters to join. Alternatively, settlers can be told to "move" from an already populated settlement.
 * Provisioners will still count to the population of a settlement, but only to the one that they were sent from.
 * Increasing populations and lower happiness scores will increase the time for new settlers to arrive using the radio beacon.
 * If more than four settlers are either unassigned or assigned to provisioner jobs, no more settlers will arrive on their own.
 * Dependencies: water, food, beds, defense, radio beacon

Happiness

 * This is the morale of the settlement. Increasing a settlement's happiness will increase the productivity of its settlers. One may lose control of a settlement that is very unhappy.
 * Happiness primarily correlates with providing for the needs of the settlers. Keeping settlers happy is as simple as keeping all the other settlement resources (food and water, beds, and defense) at sufficient levels. Each of these needs to be at least equal to the number of settlers; power itself does not affect happiness but is required to operate more efficient machinery.
 * The displayed happiness value is calculated by adding together all happiness points and dividing by the total population.

Size

 * Shows the number of objects that have been placed by the player character within the settlement, as well as the maximum amount of objects that can be placed through the Settlement interface. Every existing or user-built item takes up settlement size. If the settlement size is maxed, other objects within its boundaries must be scrapped in order to place more structures.
 * It is possible to bypass the in-game size limit of settlements by dropping items to the ground and scrapping or storing them manually. Each scrapped item refunds a small number of allotment points allowing to build more objects. Placing large amounts of objects in any settlement may cause frame rate issues and lag while in that settlement.
 * With the Local Leader perk, food/water and junk resources can be shared between settlements connected by a supply line allowing the player character to quickly build out new settlements or even specialize them.