How do you plan out your Settlements?

[coolphoton1234]

With the AR beacon I accedentaly hit 104 settlers in sanctuary. I had planted a lot of crops to make an aria look full (I use vanilla extensions, witch dubbles yeald...I keep meaning to fix that) and left for about 3 in game months....

 

[pra]

That works well, but if you are on PC, you can do even better. Firstly, don't power the beacons. Next enter workshop mode in the settlement you want to build in. Open the console and type player.placeatme 20593 then select the new settler, and tell them to move to the settlement you are in.

But that's cheating...

That said, I have files called settler_vanilla.txt and settler_fh.txt for doing just that. The ID for Far Harbor settlers is xx01054d

 

[Andrew Rackliff]

But that's cheating...

That said, I have files called settler_vanilla.txt and settler_fh.txt for doing just that. The ID for Far Harbor settlers is xx01054d

How do those files work? Also, doesn't spawning settlers mess up things? I've read that somewhere before, that you shouldn't ever do it.

 

[Yagisan]

But that's cheating...

The words you are looking for are "Effective Population Management".

 

[tankthing]

As with all things, there's tradeoffs involved. You can't have everything with Sim Settlements alone yet. I know multiple occupancy is on Kinggath's list of todos

I am curious what you use your multiple occupancy buildings for, I tend to hand build dwellings for families with children and dorms for the orphans but that's about the extent of multi-occupancy that I use. With the new setting for treating beds as houses, I don't even have to worry about things getting stalled because of residential needs anymore.

 

[pra]

How do those files work? Also, doesn't spawning settlers mess up things? I've read that somewhere before, that you shouldn't ever do it.

You can just put text files in the fallout directory (not Data, the one where the exe is in) and put any commands in there you like, even several commands (one per line). Then, in the game, you just type "bat <filename>" in the console, and it will run them all. Filename without the .txt, that is.

 

[Yagisan]

I am curious what you use your multiple occupancy buildings for, I tend to hand build dwellings for families with children and dorms for the orphans but that's about the extent of multi-occupancy that I use. With the new setting for treating beds as houses, I don't even have to worry about things getting stalled because of residential needs anymore.

Spouses, families with children, guard barracks, and occasionally worker dormitories are the most common.

 

[tankthing]

Settler.txt (1 settler)
Settlers.txt (3 settlers)
MoreSettlers.txt (5 settlers)

I don't use far harbor settlers in vanilla at the moment, my games are screwy enough..

 

[mytigio]

Settler.txt (1 settler)
Settlers.txt (3 settlers)
MoreSettlers.txt (5 settlers)

I don't use far harbor settlers in vanilla at the moment, my games are screwy enough..

Plus they can't be proper doctors, just chem dealers

 

[Rayhne]

So it's a plot that has to be Build and manned by a settler?

Ohhhhhh .... never mind.

 

[pyratelv]

How do those files work? Also, doesn't spawning settlers mess up things? I've read that somewhere before, that you shouldn't ever do it.

The only problem I've heard of happening when you "beam" settlers in to a settlement is them not responding to commands.
To avoid this, its advised to spawn them at a neutral location (mine is Red Rocket. Its clear. No beds, food or water) .and then Move them to the settlement you want them in.

I do it all the time when I don't want to wait to fill a vacancy

 

[Rayhne]

I plan on building an orphanage somewhere for the kids and am hoping someone will put together a school plot for them.

I was rather amused to see the mercenaries from the guard tent interacting around the town, using items and such. I was wondering, one of my houses is the doss house with eight beds. Has anyone seen mercenaries or settlers using those extra beds?

 

[Yagisan]

I was rather amused to see the mercenaries from the guard tent interacting around the town, using items and such. I was wondering, one of my houses is the doss house with eight beds. Has anyone seen mercenaries or settlers using those extra beds?

No. I think those beds are decoration only. :/

 

[Rayhne]

Darn. And its second level so I don't really want to switch it out and lose a level. :/

 

[tankthing]

The only problem I've heard of happening when you "beam" settlers in to a settlement is them not responding to commands.
To avoid this, its advised to spawn them at a neutral location (mine is Red Rocket. Its clear. No beds, food or water) .and then Move them to the settlement you want them in.

I do it all the time when I don't want to wait to fill a vacancy

This only happens to me on beamed settlers when my scripts are starting to lag under load and its not that they ignore me, it just takes forever for them to get around to being assigned.

Toggling AI off for a realtime minute or two and then turning it back on will buy you some time. In my current sanctuary I do that every 15-30 minutes of real time spent in the settlement because it is so far off the rails for capacity and poly count, if I don't, it will ctd sooner rather than later.

AI assignment takes anywhere from instant to over 5 minutes depending on the last time I did the AI catchup thing.

Please keep in mind that this is an active settlement fully populated and mostly level 3 on all plots with well over 100 settlers in it. I had to double Kingath's already generous limits from the wiki to get it this far.

The other side is that it's currently the primary donation source of the 2k caps per period I make off taxes

 

[Rayhne]

I really don't plan on going over 30-40 settlers a settlement ... I just want enough to make a respectable village.

 

[tankthing]

At even 30 settlers I really strongly recommend doing the performance enhancements suggested on the wiki. They're not a cure all but they will help clear a lot of the script lag you're seeing in highly populated areas.

 

[ruinedworld]

40 Settlers with 40 jobs was a pretty big hit to my fps.... I could still move around no problem, but you could def feel it when I looked towards the settlement..... Since then I have scaled most back to a manageable 20 - 30

I figured Diamond city is supposed to be the biggest town most people ever saw... that's a direct quote... haha So I will let them be

 

[ruinedworld]

As for planning, I start with a theme or center point... and then build around that...

Example.... Starlight, water with the pump is the heart of the city, all houses face it in a circle pattern until I get near the edge and then wall it in using houses and junk walls...
Sanctuary, I highlight the road as the main part of the town, build around or just off it... market in the cul-de-sac...

 

[Bane]

I try to keep true to the spirit of the settlement, if it has one. If there are existing features like farming areas I try to reuse them for agricultural plots, or if there are existing buildings I try to reuse them if possible. If there are already people living there I tend to leave their stuff alone, and just clean up the trash and debris and build around them.

For example, in Sanctuary I left the Sole Survivor's house and the workshop house alone. I scrapped everything else, and placed residential plots on the existing home foundations around the cul-de-sac, commercial plots on the foundations nearest the bridge, and replaced the streetlights. At The Castle I fixed the walls with a mod, put a row of residential plots along each of the outer walls, and ran a boardwalk in front of each row. There's some commercial outside the main entrance (focusing on food, medical, clothing), and the agricultural plots are inside the walls. It's also heavily fortified with a perimeter wall and martial plots.

I use a lot of temporary pieces when building, mostly wooden floor pieces for spacing and lining things up. Place Everywhere is absolutely essential for getting things where I want them, particularly for moving objects up and down to match the terrain.