Fallout 4 Settlements

In Fallout 4, the Sole Survivor can build and manage their own settlements at various sites around the Commonwealth. The new workshop interface is used to place and connect pre-fabricated structures as well as individual pieces (walls, floors, roofs, etc.) letting the player character construct their own home base(s) as they desire.

Once built, these settlements can be customized extensively. Inside buildings and structures, furniture, decorations, and lights can be placed for aesthetic purposes; outside these structures, the player character can plant crops, create water and power supplies, and tend to the defensive needs of their new settlement. To accumulate resources for their settlements, the player character can scrap most interactive inventory items.

Once a settlement reaches a certain size and/or the player character obtains necessary perks, they can invite others to set up shop at their base by building unique resources such as the trading post, which adds a vendor NPC stocking some of the best in-game items. It is also possible to establish supply lines between settlements to share resources and inventory among them.

Settlements require constant maintenance with NPCs tending to more basic functions such as crop harvesting. However, without this, crops will fail and equipment will need repair over time. The player character will have to use the workshop and have the required junk to complete the repairs. Walking up to a damaged or failed item while in workshop mode, the player character will be offered a selection to scrap/repair the observed item.

Most of these sites can be obtained during the Minutemen quests; however, others will require visiting them and completing location-specific quests.

Settlement sites
 There are 35 discoverable/unlockable settlements total with 30 in the base game, 1 in the Automatron add-on, and 4 in Far Harbor; most are obtained by completing an objective or killing hostiles/residents in the area then opening the workshop. Those include:

Legend: Armor workbench Chemistry station  Weapons workbench  Power armor station  Cooking station

Necessities and dependencies
These stats need to be maintained to sustain or stagnate the growth of a settlement. Each necessity would also act as a dependency on other necessities; i.e. people need water, food, beds and protection to live long and prosper.

People

 * 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 21 before factoring in extra charisma from armor and consumables (the theoretical limit could be much higher once power armor charisma increases are calculated). 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 the settlements as well.
 * Note that 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

Food

 * How much food the settlement is producing. Increased by placing food resources.
 * Every 24 hours, independent of the timer for the food resource to be manually harvestable by the player again, every food resource assigned to a farmer will generate one food item of the same type for every whole unit of food production of that type, which will be added to the settlement's workshop inventory.
 * Food will not be automatically produced at any settlement whose workshop contains more than 10 food items (including items that cannot be produced by settlement resources, like meat, gumdrops, etc). This cap on production increases by 1 per settlement population.
 * Dependencies: people, water. Crops will die without water.

Water

 * How much water the settlement can produce.
 * Every 24 hours, a settlement with a non-zero population will produce 1 purified water per unit of water production. This water will be stored automatically in the settlement's workshop.
 * Water will not be automatically produced at any settlement whose workshop contains more than 5 drink items (including items that cannot be produced by settlement resources, like dirty water, alcohol, etc). This cap on production increases by 1 per every 4 units of settlement population.
 * In Survival mode, water resources can be used by the player to satisfy thirst and convert empty bottles to purified water.
 * Dependencies: power (only with water purifiers)

Power

 * How much power is available for the settlement to use. Power required for turrets, traps, lights and some furniture (TV).
 * Repair Generators after attacks, they are a main target
 * Dependencies: n/a

Defense
(Note that the defense values do not directly correlate with actual combat efficiency. A Mk. 5 machine gun turret can kill enemies several times faster than a Mk. 1 heavy machine gun turret, but will contribute less to the settlement defense value)
 * Measures the apparent defenses 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 is also present.
 * Each point of defense lowers the chance of an attack by 1%.
 * Each population unit lowers the chance of an attack by 0.5%, in addition to any other defensive value the settler provides.
 * Each unit of food and water production at the settlement increases the chance of attack by 0.1%.
 * Each edible and/or drinkable item stored in a settlement's workbench increases the chance of attack by 0.1%.
 * The minimum chance of an attack upon a settlement per day is 2%, regardless of defenses. The maximum chance is unknown, but assumed to be 100%.
 * Dependencies: people, power (with certain turrets and traps)

Beds

 * The number of beds in the settlement. The settlement needs one bed per settler to keep the settlers happy.
 * 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 which do not start with pre-existing 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 his bed assignment to be lost, so assign jobs before manually assigning beds.
 * To achieve max happiness at the Slog it is necessary to reassign NPCs sleeping in preexisting beds on the south wall (Wiseman, Deirdre, Holly, Jones, and one unnamed worker) because their beds are located under operating shower heads (Arlen Glass has a reminder on his computer to fix the plumbing). This requires adding new beds not positioned against a wall with shower heads and then reassigning the NPCs to these new dry beds. Note that Holly and Jones need closely adjacent beds or they won't readily occupy the the beds even after being assigned.
 * Dependencies: n/a

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.
 * The displayed happiness value is calculated by adding together all happiness points, and dividing by the total population.


 * Basic needs
 * Each human settler can provide up to 80 happiness points by meeting their basic needs, which are:
 * A bed in which to sleep, which counts for 10 points.
 * For their bed to be covered from rainfall, which counts for 10 points.
 * One unit of food production per settler, which counts for 20 points.
 * One unit of water production per settler, which counts for 20 points.
 * One unit of defense per settler, which counts for 20 points.
 * Each non-human settler instead provides 50 happiness points at all times.
 * Guards and provisioners will not use their beds, but must still be allocated one to increase their happiness.
 * Food and water produced at the settlement only increases the settlers' happiness by being greater than the population. However, failing to provide sufficient food and/or water, either at the settlement or at one connected by a supply line, will impose happiness caps (see below) on individual settlers that will drag down the settlement's average happiness, and can't be countered by bonus happiness (see below).
 * Providing more than one unit of defense per settler will not provide any more happiness, but will reduce the chance of the settlement being attacked.
 * Contrary to popular belief, decoration and noise levels have no effect on happiness.


 * Bonus happiness
 * Bonus happiness is divided among each settler at the settlement that produces it. A bonus happiness of 10 at a settlement with a population of 5 will increase each settler's happiness by 2.
 * The table below lists the happiness points provided by the presence of certain stores, and are marked with a happiness icon in the tooltip when building them.


 * The table below lists the happiness points provided by certain animals living in a settlement.


 * Happiness caps
 * Settler happiness can be capped, to ensure that happiness loss caused by failing to meet basic settler needs can't be countered with bonus happiness.
 * If a settlement has a lower defense rating than its population, all its settlers' happiness is capped at 60.
 * Every 24 hours, when a settlement updates, one edible item and one drinkable item is consumed from the workshop inventory per settler. If the settlement is linked by a supply line to other settlements, items in the connected settlements' workshops will be consumed if needed. Settlers that must go without eating or drinking due to lack of edible/drinkable items in any connected workshop will have their happiness capped at 30 until the next update. Food and drink stored in containers, instead of in the workshop, will not be consumed, but are also unavailable to settlers for retaining happiness.


 * Temporary Happiness Modifier
 * Happiness is also affected by a temporary modifier at each settlement, that ranges from -50 to +20. Each 24 hour "update," this temporary modifier is multiplied by 0.8, with fractions dropped. Most commonly this is a -20 adjustment, caused by a settler's death. Other adjustments are triggered by the activation of a Minutemen quest for the settlement (-20) and the completion of a Minutemen quest for the settlement (+20).

Size

 * Shows the amount 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 item existing or that you build takes up settlement size. If your settlement is built out/ full and you want to add on something, you need to take down a few mailboxes, light poles, trees etc.
 * It is possible to bypass the in game size limit of settlements by dropping junk items to the ground and scrapping them manually. Each scrapped items refunds a small amount of allotment points allowing you to build more objects. Be warned however, that depending on processing power, placing large amounts of objects in any settlement will cause a lot of frame rate issues and lag while in that settlement. It also works to just store the dropped items in the workshop. This can be done repeatedly by retrieving the items from the workshop, dropping, and storing them again.
 * Dependencies: n/a

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.

Related perks

 * Gun Nut allows for the creation of more advanced defenses.
 * Hacker is required for the creation of Terminals.
 * Armorer is required additionally to build Power Armor crafting stations.
 * Science! is required for the creation of assorted advanced power-focused structures.
 * Local Leader allows for two settlements to have a Supply Line, sharing resources.
 * Rank 2 of the perk is required for vendor stalls and crafting stations.
 * Cap Collector is an additional requirement for tier 3 shops.
 * Medic is an additional requirement for all medical shops.

Unlockable settlement items

 * Have a look here for further items: advanced settlement items.

Stores
¹ - Adding the appropriate expert trader will unlock the level 4 merchant

² - Can also be labelled 'Bar' depending on localisation.

Cages (Wasteland Workshop)


Budget settlement (Sanctuary)
Build supports 20 settlers, minimum 11. When setting up camp, place the medium generator, water purifiers and recruitment radio beacon close together. The generator can support all 3 items by itself. Each settler can maintain 6 units of food (6 mutfruit or 12 of any other crops), so 4 settlers can maintain 24 food. Settlers that do not maintain food can be set to guard duty. Each guard can man 3 guard posts, so 7 settlers can man the 20 guard posts required. Mutfruit plants can be obtained at Greentop Nursery, Graygarden, or Warwick homestead. Minimum Cost Alternately, the player character can build x7 water pumps, at a cost of:
 * People - x1 recruitment radio beacon
 * Beds - x20 sleeping bag
 * Food - x20 mutfruit (requires 4 settlers)
 * Water - x2 water purifier
 * Power - x1 medium generator
 * Defense - x20 guard post (requires 7 settlers)
 * 11 settlers (supports 20)
 * 200 wood
 * 64 cloth
 * 117 steel
 * 20 mutfruit plant
 * 18 copper
 * 14 rubber
 * 8 ceramic
 * 4 oil
 * 3 screws
 * 3 gears
 * 2 circuitry
 * 2 crystal
 * 28 steel
 * 7 concrete
 * 7 gears

Advanced settlement building techniques
There are some ways to get around the clipping of settlement objects with each other and preexisting objects in the world to allow you to build more sophisticated structures. These can all be done without mods however some will require using the game console. See Fallout 4 console commands for the full list of console commands.

You can achieve this by placing a small door mat down and then placing a larger item like a wall on top of it. when you select the mat by holding down the select button it will also pick up the items linked on top however the collision will only be enabled for the floor mat, enabling you to potentially clip the larger object into other objects provided the mat isn't clipping with anything. To increase distance that the mat can reach try stacking rugs with the base (the one you want to move with) at the bottom.
 * Mat Exploit

This is achieved by using a concrete pillar (found in the Wasteland Workshop Add-on) and placing it next to a structure. By holding the "Place" button the structure and pillar will be high-lighted, if only the pillar is high-lighted, move it closer to the structure. Note that doing this does not allow you to clip the structure but to sink it into the ground. If you don't have the Wasteland Workshop Add-on you can use concrete foundation.
 * Pillar Exploit

The console command tcl will disable clipping to yourself. It will also turn off clipping for any objects you place down or select while in this mode, allowing you to put other objects inside of it. If you have an object placed that you want to put another object inside of you simple select that object then deselect it to disable its collision. You can then place down an object inside of it. Once you remove the collision you will also remove the ability to select that item. To restore collision simply enter tcl into the command again to reactivate clipping. You can enter tcl again to go back into tcl and begin removing collision again.
 * Console: TCL

This command is best used for junk wall placement to allow you to join the sections of wall together.

Modpos will allow you to move any object in the game that is selectable within the console. To target an object simply click on it when you have the console open. Modpos will require you to specify an axis and also an amount to move an object by. Because you are forcing the object to be moved through console this will ignore all collision and will allow you to move the object anywhere you wish. Each unit of movement is quite small and you can get a high degree of accuracy.
 * Console: modpos

Some sample distances:


 * 1 full size floor object length = 256
 * 1 full size floor object height = 15
 * 1 upper shack floor object height = 22
 * 1 wall height = 202
 * Distance between floors (Z axis), non-prefab, using the standard 1 full square stair set = 224

While Modpos moves a selected object a given distance, Setpos moves it to specified x, y, or z coordinates. Both ignore any clipping including with the original environment. Setpos is most useful when dealing with an item that snaps to another and the game will preview the object in the correct position but will not place it there. For example, you can get the coordinates of a wall while it is in the preview location, then place it on the other side of the floor in an allowed location, then use Setpos to move it back to the preview location already placed.
 * Console: setpos

To use it, open the console while the object is snapped into the preview position. Click on the object and get its x, y and z coordinates in that location with:

Close the console. Now place the object elsewhere in the same orientation, parallel to the final destination. With the object placed, open the console again, and with the object still selected use the following, replacing # with the number shown by Getpos for that axis.

If you need to scroll back up in the console to get the coordinate, the PageUp and PageDown buttons may be used.

When you're building big settlements, often you are confronted with a full size bar. This means that, according to the game mechanics, you can't place another item in your settlement. A quick work-around can help you to easily reduce your settlement size, which enable you to place more items.
 * Unlimited size


 * 1) Place the weapons in the workbench
 * 2) Remove the weapons from the workbench
 * 3) Drop the weapons on the ground
 * 4) Enter workshop-mode
 * 5) Click on the weapons, and store them in the Workshop

Doing this will reduce your settlement size, and enables you to build bigger settlements.

Alternatively it is possible to increase the build limit by using console commands. The build limit is calculated by two actor values, namely triangles and draws. To raise them, the player has to open the console while facing the workshop and select it to get the workshop ID, then type in the console command 'getav 349' to display the maximum amount of triangles (348 displays the current number). Then one has to use the console command 'setav 349' in combination with a number higher than the current maximum to increase the maximum number of triangles to an amount specified. The same has to be done with the actor value 34b for the number of draws (34a displays the current number).


 * displays the current number of triangles
 * displays the maximum number of triangles
 * changes the number of triangles to the specified amount
 * displays the currentnumber of draws
 * displays the maximum number of draws
 * changes the number of draws to the specified amount

Objects that are joined into full structure can be moved as one object. Example: If you have built a shack on one end of a settlement (walls and floors with lamps, desk atc.) you can move it it as a one item. In build mode you hold your select button ('e' fot PC) on one element (preferably you choose wall from outside) and whole structure will be selected. Now you can move your shack on the other side of your settlement.
 * Moving build structures

Quests
The player character can get radiant quests that randomly select different settlements. Minutemen radiant quests

Bugs

 * When away from a settlement, the Pip-Boy's workshop section on the data screen may show incorrect values for a settlement's statistics, such as water and beds. This occurs when the player character enters an exterior cell close enough to a settlement such that only a subset of the settlement's exterior cells are loaded into the simulation engine. The result is that only those objects in the loaded cells are included in the statistics. Unfortunately, the settlement will experience the expected negative consequences of this, such as the happiness score dropping, and settlers may become unassigned from their beds. The effect will be more noticeable in larger settlements, such as Sanctuary Hills, which are composed of a larger number of exterior cells, and in the case of Spectacle Island, this can occur without even leaving the island. It will not affect settlements which only consist of a single cell, such as County crossing. This is a fundamental limitation of the simulation engine, so there are no methods to permanently prevent this from occurring, though several workarounds and temporary fixes exist:
 * Returning to the affected settlement and opening the workshop should correct the statistics. In the case of Spectacle Island, you may have to travel to the center of the island to ensure all the cells have loaded.
 * Replacing all pre-existing beds in a settlement may prevent settlers from becoming unassigned from or not assigning themselves to these beds. On PC, if scrapping is not possible, selecting the bed to be removed in the console and using commands and then  will permanently remove the selected beds.
 * One can fix this by group selecting preexisting beds and moving them onto a floor. Scrapping or storing the floor will then delete the bugged bed.
 * Manually assigning all settlers to a bed using the command option in the workshop menu may prevent settlers from becoming unassigned from their beds.
 * If a distress pulser is dropped on the ground in a settlement and then scrapped using the building screen it will permanently emit a distress signal.
 * After choosing 'barter' at a user-created settlement shop, the trade window may open to two blank lists (player character and settler inventories are empty), where the settler has 0-6 caps and nothing can be done except exiting.
 * Exiting the trade menu, selecting the 'all items' category in the Pip-Boy and then retrying barter may resolve this bug.
 * Settlers with a coded routine may continue it at the expense of an assigned job. This occurs mainly with original settlers from before a settlement is unlocked, and some named settlers. Examples include Sturges or Marcy Long rarely being present at a store if assigned (though still bartering from wherever they are), robots at Graygarden tending plants regardless of assignment, and original settlers in Greentop Nursery assigned to guard posts spending time sitting in chairs inside the house, while new settlers assigned the same roles do not. For assignments like guard duty where being in the correct location matters, a new settler may be a better choice.
 * When fast traveling to a settlement, settlers may be seen standing on the roofs of natural or player character-built structures with no way of getting to the top of them.
 * Fast-traveling to the settlement again should make them return to the ground.
 * Beds that are under cover (even in an entirely enclosed building) may not be recognized as such, impacting settlement happiness.