Is this Mod for Me: What if I don't want to use plots?

First off, I want to say that this mod looks incredible. It's a great idea that looks like it was executed exceptionally.
That being said, I'm still trying to figure out if it's for me. I really like features like the HUD Piece, Dynamic Needs, and what sounds like a better settler AI from Living Cities. I'm also very interested in features from RotC, like Dynamic Soundscape, Recruitment Control, Tax Overhaul, and the Visitor System, as well as the additional resources from IR. Overall, this mod and its add-ons sound like they would dramatically improve settlements. However, there is one big snag: I don't really want to use plots.
See, I'm the sort of weirdo who really enjoys not only naming all my settlers, but coming up with little backstories for them, making individual houses for each of them, and hand-placing knickknacks, tools, and furniture to give their homes a sense of life. I even dress them all according to their job and personality. I really like building my settlements so they tell a story: Hangman's Alley is a trading hub with a few prosperous rulers and a lot of poor folks in slums; Sanctuary is a small village that grew to be lavish and wealthy, and attracts the most sophisticated people in the Commonwealth; Oberland Station is a furiously defended settlement whose people built towering apartments covered in turrets behind their massive walls, and so on and so forth.
It may seem ludicrous to consider this mod when I so enjoy micromanaging, but I've been looking for a mod that would let me better manage my settlements, as well as make them smarter and more engaging. From what I've seen, this is the best one to use. That raises the major question, though: will I get any of the benefits of the mod if I don't use plots? As I said, many of the features are very attractive to me, but I don't know that any of them will actually apply if don't use plots.
I likely will use this mod in some playthrough; it's just too well-done not to. Right now, though, I don't know if it's what I'm looking for. I would really, really appreciate any insight into playing with this mod that you guys can give.

TL;DR: Will I get anything out of this mod if I don't use plots?

Everything you mentioned that you like either comes from plots, or are requirements/needs for plots. So, no I would not think it worth spending a portion on much loved performance on such a large and complex mod.
However, there are now Interior Plots. Small 1.5 vanilla foundation plots with no roof or walls. They come with some decorations, but for residential(homes) there are loads of different ones to choose from(more with addons) with greatly varying styles. So it is entirely possible to build your own houses and incorporate these into them. I do that all the time.

IC is ALL about those large outdoor plots though. If you don't want those, then you will gain nothing from the IC.
RoTC is like 95% making settlers build cities for you. I enjoy it for easing the "workload" on me, not having to manually build and detail every settlement out there. It lets me go all out on select settlements, and I do enjoy modifying and adding to the automatic builds.

rhn said:

Everything you mentioned that you like either comes from plots, or are requirements/needs for plots. So, no I would not think it worth spending a portion on much loved performance on such a large and complex mod.
However, there are now Interior Plots. Small 1.5 vanilla foundation plots with no roof or walls. They come with some decorations, but for residential(homes) there are loads of different ones to choose from(more with addons) with greatly varying styles. So it is entirely possible to build your own houses and incorporate these into them. I do that all the time.

IC is ALL about those large outdoor plots though. If you don't want those, then you will gain nothing from the IC.
RoTC is like 95% making settlers build cities for you. I enjoy it for easing the "workload" on me, not having to manually build and detail every settlement out there. It lets me go all out on select settlements, and I do enjoy modifying and adding to the automatic builds.

Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your reply!

sporeduck said:

It may seem ludicrous to consider this mod when I so enjoy micromanaging, but I've been looking for a mod that would let me better manage my settlements, as well as make them smarter and more engaging. From what I've seen, this is the best one to use. That raises the major question, though: will I get any of the benefits of the mod if I don't use plots? As I said, many of the features are very attractive to me, but I don't know that any of them will actually apply if don't use plots.

Click to expand...

Sim Settlements don't touch the settlers AI, so they will not be smarter or more engaging. Sim Settlements, along with IR and RotC, does basically two main things: a) let you build plots so the settlers build their own houses/stores/industries on those plots, but still requires you to choose a place and manually put the plot down; and b) let you choose a "leader" of a determined settlement and they will build ALL the city themselves, without requiring you to place the plots.

I, like you, really enjoy the settlements/building mechanics of the game. If you like to build EVERYTHING yourself, it's exact the opposite of the main purpose of the mod (even tough I would still recommend you to try it). Or you can do like I do, you can still build the settlements you want to build, and the ones you don't (because really, one cannot build EVERY settlement with all the little details in one playthrough. I spend sometimes 50hours just to build one settlement myself, so imagine doing that 30+ times) you let Sim settlements do it's thing. Or you can mix match. Or you can let them build and after that take the city back and do your own modifications. It's really the most amazing mod I've ever seen in all the games I've played.

For my .02 cents you can be a micromanager and still use SS - just depends what you want to micromanage.

If you want to control what gets built, where, and operated by whomever you direct, then SS is great at that. It just skips the tedium of hand designing each and every job, house plot, etc.

If you want to micro the actual clutter and specific design elements, then no - SS isn't for you.

However, no matter how much you hand build, if you're like me, you can't want to hand build 100% of every item in every settlement - there may be some locations you don't particularly care about but want as a pit stop base, survival mode resting settlement, etc.

Then you can still hand build 100% of whatever you want in most places, but still use SS for places you'd ordinarily not spend much time on or at all. But if you are one of the game types that hand builds in every single vanilla + DLC settlement, then no - SS isn't for you.

I started out ~50-50, automating half, hand building half. Now I'm ~98% SS with maybe 1 settlement per playthrough I still mostly hand build myself. But in all settlements I still handle the defenses, turret towers, etc. With so many core plus addon SS plots, it's pretty tough to have identical looking settlements between 1 playthrough and the next, so I just leave it on RNG mostly except few Adv Ind plots I know want in each settlement and enjoy the surprise of how it looks when all leveled up.

sporeduck said:

See, I'm the sort of weirdo who really enjoys not only naming all my settlers, but coming up with little backstories for them, making individual houses for each of them, and hand-placing knickknacks, tools, and furniture to give their homes a sense of life. I even dress them all according to their job and personality. I really like building my settlements so they tell a story: Hangman's Alley is a trading hub with a few prosperous rulers and a lot of poor folks in slums; Sanctuary is a small village that grew to be lavish and wealthy, and attracts the most sophisticated people in the Commonwealth; Oberland Station is a furiously defended settlement whose people built towering apartments covered in turrets behind their massive walls, and so on and so forth.
It may seem ludicrous to consider this mod when I so enjoy micromanaging, but I've been looking for a mod that would let me better manage my settlements, as well as make them smarter and more engaging. From what I've seen, this is the best one to use. That raises the major question, though: will I get any of the benefits of the mod if I don't use plots? As I said, many of the features are very attractive to me, but I don't know that any of them will actually apply if don't use plots.
I likely will use this mod in some playthrough; it's just too well-done not to. Right now, though, I don't know if it's what I'm looking for. I would really, really appreciate any insight into playing with this mod that you guys can give.

TL;DR: Will I get anything out of this mod if I don't use plots?

Click to expand...

YOU WEIRDO! YES YOU MR. Sporeduck!
Ha, is that what you call yourself? Well, you just did, sooo.

You have stolen my identity, even the very thoughts from my mind.

I am you. Fallout 4 joke, maybe? I might be a Synth?

That said, direct answer, yes you will. You think you will not use plots? I bet you will use some. That some and the other things this mod brings to play will change the game experience for you in an epic way. As Heather would say “trust me” I will improve your FO4 health.

So, happy to see a fellow micromanager come by too visit.

Unspoken truth of mine. With every bit of process that is added to this mod to automatically manage everything, I get a coorosponding complexity that is surpremely satisfying.

Someone who thinks differently will not see it on you, or maybe even looking from the outside into what this mod does. Test me. I dare you.

Hahaha, that makes me a complexity parasite. But they seem to tolerate even me. You want to micromanage, it’s here in spades!

Do it now my friend, my creepy, creepy fellow weirdo.

BTW, everything thing you said above. I do also.

Yep, maybe a synth, and creepy as hell ooowhoohahaha

@sporeduck
I think SS could definitely be for you if you're willing to go one step further. It sounds to me like you'd prefer the ultimate control of creating both your own plots and city plans. It requires a bit of learning but the tutorials are very detailed and teach you everything you need. You'd get the benefit of all the things you mentioned, but each settler's home, workplace, and the overall appearance of the city would still be your design. I've linked the tutorial kits below.

Creating Plots
Creating City Plans