How do you play SS2?

[Mahasona]

I sometimes use an interesting city plan (couldn't resist the Starlight Zoo), or use them in awkward places to see what's possible, but otherwise, it's all placing plots for me. I'm interested in the character of the settlements and relating them to what's outside, not the messy nuts and bolts numbers game, so it's all on auto.

 

[stryker1999]

I realized I haven't opened my big mouth in here yet.

I've had so much trouble with the settlement numbers going berserk every so often, from crops to beds to storage, that I automate everything. Add to that the excruciating wait for any "super" NPCs to wander in, so I've resorted to a lot of cheating. I load up the settlements with junk of all kinds, which means tons when the "trot while encumbered" perk is available - I also walk everywhere. I use the console to boost the power generator a thousand, use or build a water hand pump and set them to produce 100+ food and water, and many settlers I juice their stats like mad. Beds will still vanish periodically, but that's the only radroach in the mix so I'll live. It means I periodically have to visit a settlement though, including Nuka Wreck and Fah Habah. My gig is saving the Commonwealth from the ass hats making life miserable for the poor slobs just trying to eke out a living, so I join all the factions and do their main quests before throwing down that first settlement beacon to summon the AS'M salesdude. I'm not in the Fallout "writing sucks, everything sucks but SS2" bandwagon.

most city plans seem to favour the rickety ramshackle approach with buildings and suspended bridges that look like they might fall down at any moment.

I've been using the RotC city plans almost exclusively, haven't taken the time to peek at the MegaPack - with 160 plans?! - and I'll have to say they're something else. I'm also not a wannabe city planner, so the only plots I place by hand are at Starlight Drive-in. I haven't liked the city plans for it. And Sanctuary is absolutely not an SS2 settlement, I use "Do Your Damn Job, Codsworth" for it, and it's remote enough it should have faired as well as Concord and Lexington. So far the Triangle of Death has only CTD'd on me once or twice.

I take my hat off to those city planners, but the work runs from imaginative and amazing to crackers, and parts of them, I wonder how they hold together.

 

[tempestbob]

And Sanctuary is absolutely not an SS2 settlement, I use "Do Your Damn Job, Codsworth" for it, and it's remote enough it should have faired as well as Concord and Lexington.

I love DYDJC so much. Will quite often use it with internal and 1x1 plots *exclusively!
*except for a couple 2x2 farm plots behind the workshop house lol

Playing with VilanceD's Deep Clean and Remodel atm though, so DYDJC is on hiatus for now

 

[Skywise001]

I love DYDJC so much. Will quite often use it with internal and 1x1 plots *exclusively!
*except for a couple 2x2 farm plots behind the workshop house lol

Playing with VilanceD's Deep Clean and Remodel atm though, so DYDJC is on hiatus for now

Ive found "Codsworth and Nick Unassignment Fix" to be a really handy mod.

 

[stryker1999]

Will quite often use it with internal and 1x1 plots *exclusively!

Yeah, but, the point is to have ONE PLACE - besides GNN - which is free of ranting and cussing and people shooting each other where I can hang my combat rifle. And has no SS2 bug nests. Dare I say it, a sanctuary of peace and quiet in a world of chaos and turmoil.

 

[Saito404]

I play with normal settings. For most settlements I use basic city plans, tweak them and replace plots with higher tiers over time. One settlement I make into a "Training Center" to train settlers for HQ and high tier plots. Manually I build only Sanctuary and Castle (and eventually Vault 88 when I'll have time for it).
The only problem with HQ in this setup is that it takes a long time for settlers to train to their 10s.

 

[yaugie]

I've tried out the "training center settlement" idea myself; it really does take ingame months for people to start hitting the "fully maxed out" state - even with the additional time-passing of playing FO4 itself on Survival difficulty (thus needing to sleep), I'd gotten to the point of doing base-game radiant quests just to fill in time!

 

[Saito404]

I've tried out the "training center settlement" idea myself; it really does take ingame months for people to start hitting the "fully maxed out" state - even with the additional time-passing of playing FO4 itself on Survival difficulty (thus needing to sleep), I'd gotten to the point of doing base-game radiant quests just to fill in time!

Yeah, there really needs to be some way to speed up training. Either by leader trait ("Trainer" or something) or HQ research unlock.

 

[Antoine Soverie]

Research could speed it up, maybe in the way of proper teaching programs? We need some postapocalyptic teachers. But before that we need a full HQ of people so I'm thinking admin department (along with an engineer or something) could go on a field trip to a settlement and boost their stats by like 5 immediately. A trainer trait also works, something to maybe make training more effective and extend to the whole settlement (maybe less for them) aside from 1-3 people.

 

[tempestbob]

Research could speed it up, maybe in the way of proper teaching programs? We need some postapocalyptic teachers. But before that we need a full HQ of people so I'm thinking admin department (along with an engineer or something) could go on a field trip to a settlement and boost their stats by like 5 immediately. A trainer trait also works, something to maybe make training more effective and extend to the whole settlement (maybe less for them) aside from 1-3 people.

I think that's kinda what the Admin team's staff training is supposed to represent. An extra virtual boost to their relevant stat, because they've been taught to do more specific things

 

[Skywise001]

This mod might give you the boost you want. Its faster to level 8.

Faster Upfront Settler Training SS2

Settlers train faster at recreational plots up to level 8, get started on those advanced plots earlier!

www.nexusmods.com

 

[yaugie]

I think that's kinda what the Admin team's staff training is supposed to represent. An extra virtual boost to their relevant stat, because they've been taught to do more specific things

Sure, but that only applies to HQ, not to settlements as a whole.

There definitely needs to be more stuff in HQ that loops back around to giving benefits to your settlements, in my opinion, to make it more of a "positive feedback loop" and thus feel like it's rewarding you for investing in it, instead of just a resource sink. I presume that's part of what the "still not yet implemented" content for the Science and Security Departments is for, if I'm correctly interpreting kg's deliberately vague hints at it during the Livestreams.
And once those systems are implemented, if they don't do what I'm picturing in my head, THEY SOON WILL

 

[caravaggio]

I picked door number three, but I usually play using Undernier's prebuilt overhauls of Tenpines (Camp Tenpines Bluff - Redux), Sanctuary (Sanctuary Hills Overhual - Redux) and Red Rocket (Cirle the Wagons - Red Rocket Overhaul), build up Sanctuary as home base on top of that using SS2 plots, and then use SS2 City Plans for everywhere else. Only exception is that I never use SS2 City Plans for either Red Rocket or Abernathy Farm as it totally kills my FPS in that corner of the world if I've got Sanctuary, Red Rocket and Abernathy Farm all built up with SS2 plots.