Happiness (Fallout 4)



Happiness is a metric of how content settlers are with a settlement in Fallout 4. Reaching 100% happiness in any settlement will reward the Benevolent Leader achievement/trophy.

Overview
Other than making one feel like a good leader, a high happiness rating results in more efficient working settlers. Higher happiness results in higher food production, more junk from scavenging, and more caps available from stores. The recruitment beacon will draw settlers faster with high happiness. The game leaves it up to the player to decide how important happiness is, although there is an achievement for getting a settlement up to 100 Happiness.

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.

Each need (food, water, beds, and defense) accounts for 20 happiness. Meeting the needs of a settlement's population will allow a maximum of 80 happiness. Increasing happiness further requires stores that increase happiness, as well as pets. The maximum possible happiness is 100.

Having beds outdoors will provide a happiness penalty. All of the stores except the weapon and armor store provide bonus happiness. The food stall/bar/restaurant provides the most. Higher level stores have a greater effect. Going further than that, coming to a settlement's aid when they are under attack and completing quests that settlers provide for the player character will temporarily improve morale or happiness.

Calculation
Each settlement object provides some certain happiness bonus. The system sums all bonuses and divides the sum by the number of settlers in one's settlement. The result is added to the base 80% happiness.

For example, for making 100% happy 2 settlers, the player character will need a total of 40 bonus for their settlement (2×20=40). So for two settlers, one can use one tier-3 bar (bonus 40), or one tier-3 clinic and one junkyard dog (30+10), or one tier-2 bar and one tier-2 clinic (20+20), or four junkyard dogs (10×4), or one tier-3 clinic and one tier-1 general store (30+10), etc.

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 increase 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.
 * Decoration and noise levels have no effect on happiness.

Bonus happiness

 * Bonus happiness is divided among each settler at the settlement that produces it. 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.


 * Animals impacting happiness


 * Vault-Tec Workshop items

Happiness caps

 * Settler happiness can be capped, ensuring 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.
 * Not having a sheltered bed will cap a settler at 60 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).

Wasteland Workshop
The Wasteland Workshop add-on added the ability to acquire pets for settlements by building certain cages. Domestic cats will provide a happiness bonus. More dangerous creatures will provide a defense bonus. A few, such as the rare gorilla, provide both defense and happiness bonuses. However, the construction of a beta wave emitter is required in order to keep combat-capable pets from turning hostile.

Automatron
The Automatron add-on added the ability to create robots using the robot workbench. These robots do add to a settlement's population count. They do not require any amenities.
 * One important note the game does not mention is that these robots have their happiness locked at 50. Their happiness will never go lower or higher. Their happiness is included in the settlement's average happiness calculation. As a result, having them around lowers the average happiness of a settlement. Robot companions do not have this effect.