So I binge-played FO for the entire weekend and I have an update to show for it. Let me tell, you I sometimes wish I had done Survival Mode from the beginning, as I find the experience of the game, overall, to be much better. This is a big update, so bear with me. Reflects almost two full days of playing and at first I thought, it'll be short, but then I kept remembering things. I am currently level 12 and have the following perks. Health is 178, AP is 150 with my gear. Armor is at 35 DR and 46 ER. Carry weight is 195 (she's a strong girl, drank her milk as a child and pocketed her armor).
Locksmith 2/4
Aquagirl 1/2
Scrapper 1/3
Sneak 2/5
Lone Wanderer 1/4
Rifleman 2/5
Gunnut 1/4
Armorer 1/4
Payback time... First Adventure without Dogmeat
So remember those Mirelurks from like session two? The ones I tried to kill but I couldn't. Well, lol, it seems that in this session, I had an axe to grind against Mirelurks. I got the confidence I needed to tackle the Sons of Bitches that owned me near the Robot Disposal Ground a short distance away from Sunshine Trading Coop (STC); Walden pond. There is a small gift shop at the pond that has roof access with some careful climbing. I find that I climb a lot in this build. Climb, obtain the tactical advantage, use the terrain. I also die way less than my fiance does in his playthrough, he tends to be more fast-paced in his combat, but he is superior at strafing from his experience with Call of Duty games and other first person shooters. He tells me he doesn't have the patience to play the way I play, but he does admire it when I get through objectives without losing health or bullets. Back to the pond. There are three mirelurk nests off to the distance. When I am secure in my position, I set them off with a placed shot towards the nest. It is a cat and mouse game that takes the better part of a gameplay day, but I kill two (combo sniper pipe rifle and double barrel shotgun when they are close) and have the last one down to about a third health, but getting to it is impossible, so I climb down. I finish that one off with two shots from my shotgun, but damn, he left me something to remember him by. I raid the nest and gather the meet. 7 mirelurk eggs and like 11 meet, from the adults and the hatchlings. Uh, yes, yes, thank you very much. I take my prize back to STC and save.
Because I'm going to head over again.
The giftshop yields little, but with my stealth, I'm able to disarm the makeshift bombs and oh yes, rank three of stealth will be taken. I don't have it yet, but I will have it. I see the note on the door and say. "Let's do this".
And I did. You can use the tunnels to your advantage. Take a shot and then retreat into a corner. Yeah, it's essentially snek arch'ry, but this is Survival Mode and the way I see it, I'm a lone person in the wastelands going against four people with guns. To go in Arnold Schwartzegger style is silly from a roleplaying perspective. I do love heavy guns though and can totally see myself doing an all Power Armor playthrough with Robots and stuff. Make him a scrawny little runt of a nerdy guy with pimples and stuff, put him in the vault tec labcoat and have a blast. He can't lift any weapon he uses, but once he dons Power Armor, he's a beast. Clearing the basement of the gift shop gets me my first legendary item; Big Jim, a wrench. Not much, but it is way better than my combat knife. But more importantly, it gets me a short hunting rifle. YES! I can ditch pipe weaponry. The hunting rifle is maxed until I take gun nut two.
I return to Sunshine Trading Coop with my spoils and bring what I can back to Sanctuary hills. It takes two trips and thank you grilled radstag. Plus 25 carryweight for an hour, yes, please. It is my go to meal. Many radiation bambies will be slaughtered in this playthrough. :D
Planning what to do Next...while killing more Mirelurks. :D
Back at Sanctuary Hills, another 11 mirelurk meat and 7 eggs richer (yes, I killed the SoBs near the Robot disposal ground), I stare at the empty settlement around me and notice a few things.
1. I could seal in a portion of the area. The problem for me is that settlement sizes in FO often makes me crazy. Like even a Skyrim home, if it's too big or too spread out, will make me nuts. I like everything very close and very efficient. I watch videos on Sanctuary Hills settlements and I frown, too big. I've already moved my home twice because it was too far from the gate for my convenience.
2. I need settlers. Not a lot, but a few. Enough that they can get a steady supply of food coming in. For me to make adhesive from veggie starch and free food.
3. I need to start leaving the safety of Sanctuary hills, so I need to start thinking about creating hubs of settlements. Will I ever get Local Leader? No, my charisma will never be high enough, but I do see myself having a string of small settlements of two varieties.
A. Larger, producing settlements with fortified defenses equipped with radiation arcs, and supplies.
B. Small, uninhabited settlements that serve as a place for me to sleep and heal up. Or craft if they have the means.
I decide that for now, Sanctuary Hills and Starlight will be Settlement A types while Red Rocket and Sunshine Trading Coop will be Settlment B types. I have already created the items necessary to make Red Rocket and STC comfortable for me, but they have huge stores of supples in their work benches from my scrapping. Supplies I need to make Sanctuary Hills and Starlight Drive In stronger settlements...
Am I up for such a mass move of resources?
Yes, I am.
Should I take Codsworth or Dogmeat to make my life perhaps easier? Yes, probably, but no, I don't, they are a hassle. And I don't want to waste Fusion cells on transfering supplies. Yeah, I had thought about getting that suit of Power Armor near the crashed vertibird, but no. Besides, I've not stumbled on it yet in the game, so why would I go specifically for it.
It takes, I dunno, a lot of trips. I lost count. Maybe six or seven total? Eight? I dunno. A fooooooking lot. Scariest moment in FO 4 so far. I'm on my last trip from STC to Starlight, nearly full of items, having eaten some grilled radstag and then I see that a Stunted Yao guai has spawned along the path I'm supposed to take. I'm tired, hungry and thirsty and I have to evade him. Biggest moment of relief is when I make it to Starlight. Really what this lack of saving does is make you think about how you are going to engage or not engage. If I had lost the battle with the Yao guai, I would have had to have make two trips again because I realized I had forgotten to save.
With all supplies from both Red Rocket and STC transferred to Sanctuary Hills and Starlight, I am ready to set up my settlments.
Creature comforts and a Crafting Base (For now)
Sanctuary Hills is, IMO, too large of a settlement. At least for my style of play. My plan for it included reducing its size by almost half through the construction of junk fences starting just after the power armor station where the workbench is to the house opposite it. I then sealed off the perimeter surrounding what I had cut off by either placing picket fences or building junk fences, effectively sealing off two points of hostile entry. This leaves the front gate where the bridge is as basically the only point of entry. There, I station a sentry turret and a manned guardtower.
To the gate's immediate left and enclosed within a protective structure is a water purifyer. The one below the highest tier, I think, as I can't and won't ever be able to install a fusion generator or get local leader. It is powered by a small generator enclosed within a rail car for protection. It is protected by the turret on the roof of my residence, but eventually, I'll be adding a turret to guard the purifying exclusively and a guard.
It's really rather cool, I'm proud of the construction. Inside the rail car is a tiny little office with a desk and a tool box. Inside the tool box are the things I need to repair the purifyer. Another container has stored water. It is also powered and has a wee light or two. I have, by the say, since changed the gate and opted instead for a door, so I can funnel the fools that manage to get through the gate better.
I keep my own residence pretty much the same except that I now, because I have power, have replaced and stored the candles and lanterns with actual electricity and I've installed a decontamination arc. All the "developed" settlements will have this feature. The crafting stations are at my residence for ease. That doesn't mean that I've neglected my settlers. They are quite comfortable. Instead of using one of the broken houses, I construct an entirely new dwelling for them using one of the empty plots near my residence. I originally had a structure that held 8 beds and that's what you're seeing below, but then I expanded it with foundation into a place that now currently holds 10 with possible expansion to fourteen to allow for the Concord group with Preston. Fourteen is the largest settlement I can have for my charisma level.
It is a three level structure. Bottom level contains the beds and general living area. The second level is more open air with some furniture and then it opens into a large porch where I have the bench press and the pommel horse. Lol, love seeing them go there at night and hang out. The third level has a guard's barraks, a guard post and then on a structure on top of that is a windmill generator. No, not the most practical thing, but damn, does it look totally badass. That generator powers the Recruitment tower and extends electricity down into the second level of the settler's compound and throught the use of pilons, my residence.
Next to the settler's compound is a farm that even has a seperate subsection for a brahmin cattle. I currently grow tatos, mutfruit, corn, razor grain, carrots, and a smattering of gourds and melons. There is a sentry touret guarding the crops. As of now, I have eight settlers that produce 32 food. 22 water is produced, 6 power, and I have 19 defense. The sentries have withstood several attacks and there is considerable room for expansion of crops. The amount of settlers there now will compensate for the inconsistant activity of the Concord group that Preston brings. They tend to not work well. The advantage of Sanctuary Hills is that it has all crafting stations. The keen disadvantage, as with Red Rocket, is that it is in the blooming top left of the map. I'm not shlepping all the way there every time I want to craft. It serves me well, now that I'm in the beginning of the game, but gah, no, not permanently. The key will be getting it to the point where they can pretty much just defend themselves and I come in when I'm in the area and want to harvest. Trashcan Carla visits with enough frequency that I can trade with her.
A lot of bang for little buck... and VENDORS and Mirelurks!
It'd be foolish of me to not develop Starlight. Though it only has a workbench and a cooking station, it is a huge expanse and very close to Lexington and has not one, but two vendors at Drumlin Diner. But what was so awesome about the settlement was also something I found insanely annoying. It is basically two structures separated by a large expanse of flat pavement with a pond in the middle and the workbench to the side. You can do several things.
1. Make a large settlement on the pavement and then expand outwards, taking early advantage of a larger purifyer, but sealing off the settlement would be a challenge with regard to resource consumption. It is also wide open to attack.
2. Make a settlement that is where the theater diner is. It offers some interesting strategic points. It has height and room for a decent amount of beds. The disadvantage is that it is near two attack points and guess what, the attackers can open the doors and access the top. And also the perma skeleton there is just so ewwwww. You can lose it through console, but console commands are not allowed in Survival Mode. The solution would be to seal it off but you'd have to make sure that you are near some plantable soil when you do. My fiance opted for this approach, and he's made a great shanty settlement, though he also has to trek to access his purifyer.
3. Make a settlement where the movie screen is. The clear disadvantage is the crampted space and that the screen is very close to the limit of building space. The advantage however is the already two solid rooms and high roof top for building and accessing the cooking station accesses your workshop. Another advantage is that attackers have to traverse a hugely open area to even get to your settlement. And that your settlement is protected on one side by a giant tall screen facing the direction that the attackers typically come in! In addition, by making it small, you use less resources to fortify it. Like I said, I'll never get local leader, so having shops and such is something I can't have anyway.
I decide to try option three as an experiment. What if I completely sealed off the small area around the screen? What protection would it grant me against attackers?
Seems, a lot.
It doesn't look like much, I know. Very small. I took an image from far away so you could see just how small the settlement was. I built a junk fence hugging the border of the buildable space opposite the screen. At each corner, I placed a guard post upon a raised wooden foundation (the one with the stilts). You can plant under the stilts by the way. :D. In addition, on the slanted mini roof above the living space in the theater (the back rooms), I install two sentry tourets.
The compound is only accessible at one point. A door along the junk fence, but the way it got built, it has a bit of a jump to get to it. Settlers seem to get a bit stuck when they first arrive and wander around outside the screen, so I've had to open the door for them. They enter fine though. The smaller back room is my residence in this compound with a drinking fountain and storage. It opens to the cooking station. The larger room has 8 beds. Yes, I could cram more in, but gah, I don't like them being squashed, you know? I decorate their place with paintings and couches and some storage. All this time, I'm shuttling between here and Sanctuary hills, lots of walking. I also power up both rooms. I install my decontamination arc, plant a variety of crops, place wells, and install the recruitement beacon. I get three settlers, one on guard duty, the other two on food. In addition, I place two sentry tourets towards the front of the screen. Lights, camera action! Let's see if this experiment works. You can see how narrow things are in the image below.
Late in the development of Starlight, I do the quest associated with Thicket excavations, the one with the water pump that releases two Mirelurks. Only fifty caps it gives me because my charisma sucks. I kill them, I have a lot of mirelurk eggs, but making the cake consumes oil, which is what I need for my nifty new weapon. Trudy over at Drumlin diner had her a combat shotgun and I grabbed that puppy like it was gold. I love these guns. This, with a combat rifle, if I'm lucky enough to find one or buy one, makes pistols unecessary and I can now ignore Gunslinger in favor of Rifleman. At least for me. The combat rifle makes an effective sniping weapon and the combat shotgun makes the double barrel shotgun a joke for its fire rate alone. Eventually, I will get an assault rifle, but that's not happening for a long while. Yeah, it took caps and my new fashion sunglasses, some stout, and a nice outfit, and trading drugs, but damn. I got it now. Which means, lol, I need to leave my fledling settlement and mod my gun. Which means back to Sanctuary Hills.
Ugh, more walking. No wonder I get sick. :D Seriously, I'm at the end of this session, out of antibiotics. I started with five. HA! And I eat and sleep regularly. I'm really careful to not get peckish and parched and I sometimes down a anti microbial thing, but I'm just not lucky.
So, yes, will be purchasing Home Plate and taking Hangman's Alley because sheeet, I need something near the action with nearby workstations that are safe. Hangman's has a weapon station, while Home plate doesn't have any, but all crafting stations and quality vendors are near Diamond City. But that's another session. While modding my gun and trading my extra .38 ammon to Trashcan Carla in exchange for quality junk, I get a notification.
Starlight is under attack.
Oh Sheeeeeeet!
Back to Starlight.
I run and sprint my way back to Starlight Diner, huffing and puffing all the while, going "oh sheeeet if I ever have to defend a settlement on the other end of the map". I also want to consider finding an alterate water route for a lot of the settlements as that, I believe, will cut travel time.
I arrive to 6-8 raiders heading towards my poor babies! I help them out the best I can with my sniper, but I'm stuck on the hill and too far. and I know if they kill me, damn, to reload again. They came from the billboard side. I expect the worst when I finally finish dealing with all the raiders, including two with my new shotgun at the Diner side. I saw Molotov cocktails thrown, on both sides. I go past the raider bodies, not even looting and enter my settlement.
"We sure showed those raiders."
I am relieved to hear that from the guard. Not a single raider was found in the settlement. No crops destroyed. Only the two front sentries were damaged. You don't even need to repair them, you know. Just leave the settlement for a day and you'll come back to them being fixed. Not sure if this applies to the higher end turrets, but for the basic ones, yeah, it's good. Seems that this tiny little fortification is a strong one and it'll continue to grow.
As it stands, Starlight has three settlers. It produces 12 food, 12 water, has 6 power and a whopping 24 defense. I expect it to continue to grow, and I've the wood and steel to expand the settlement outwards.
The next session will see me trying to acquire enough caps to comfortably purchase Home Plate, so I have a crafting hub that is more centrally located and I can begin adventuring properly. I've not even started Preston's quest yet and while I'm a bit embarrased that I've not done so, I'm actually very happy that settlements have gotten such a strong headstart. Really the four he brings do nothing, leaving resources untapped until I then have to go through the whole settlement creation process with Sturges. Now, when they arrive, there is easily stuff for them to do. I'd eventually like both settlements to reach my charisma cap of fourteen. Sorry for the long read this time and thanks for looking.
So I binge-played FO for the entire weekend and I have an update to show for it. Let me tell, you I sometimes wish I had done Survival Mode from the beginning, as I find the experience of the game, overall, to be much better. This is a big update, so bear with me. Reflects almost two full days of playing and at first I thought, it'll be short, but then I kept remembering things. I am currently level 12 and have the following perks. Health is 178, AP is 150 with my gear. Armor is at 35 DR and 46 ER. Carry weight is 195 (she's a strong girl, drank her milk as a child and pocketed her armor).
Locksmith 2/4
Aquagirl 1/2
Scrapper 1/3
Sneak 2/5
Lone Wanderer 1/4
Rifleman 2/5
Gunnut 1/4
Armorer 1/4
Payback time... First Adventure without Dogmeat
So remember those Mirelurks from like session two? The ones I tried to kill but I couldn't. Well, lol, it seems that in this session, I had an axe to grind against Mirelurks. I got the confidence I needed to tackle the Sons of Bitches that owned me near the Robot Disposal Ground a short distance away from Sunshine Trading Coop (STC); Walden pond. There is a small gift shop at the pond that has roof access with some careful climbing. I find that I climb a lot in this build. Climb, obtain the tactical advantage, use the terrain. I also die way less than my fiance does in his playthrough, he tends to be more fast-paced in his combat, but he is superior at strafing from his experience with Call of Duty games and other first person shooters. He tells me he doesn't have the patience to play the way I play, but he does admire it when I get through objectives without losing health or bullets. Back to the pond. There are three mirelurk nests off to the distance. When I am secure in my position, I set them off with a placed shot towards the nest. It is a cat and mouse game that takes the better part of a gameplay day, but I kill two (combo sniper pipe rifle and double barrel shotgun when they are close) and have the last one down to about a third health, but getting to it is impossible, so I climb down. I finish that one off with two shots from my shotgun, but damn, he left me something to remember him by. I raid the nest and gather the meet. 7 mirelurk eggs and like 11 meet, from the adults and the hatchlings. Uh, yes, yes, thank you very much. I take my prize back to STC and save.
Because I'm going to head over again.
The giftshop yields little, but with my stealth, I'm able to disarm the makeshift bombs and oh yes, rank three of stealth will be taken. I don't have it yet, but I will have it. I see the note on the door and say. "Let's do this".
And I did. You can use the tunnels to your advantage. Take a shot and then retreat into a corner. Yeah, it's essentially snek arch'ry, but this is Survival Mode and the way I see it, I'm a lone person in the wastelands going against four people with guns. To go in Arnold Schwartzegger style is silly from a roleplaying perspective. I do love heavy guns though and can totally see myself doing an all Power Armor playthrough with Robots and stuff. Make him a scrawny little runt of a nerdy guy with pimples and stuff, put him in the vault tec labcoat and have a blast. He can't lift any weapon he uses, but once he dons Power Armor, he's a beast. Clearing the basement of the gift shop gets me my first legendary item; Big Jim, a wrench. Not much, but it is way better than my combat knife. But more importantly, it gets me a short hunting rifle. YES! I can ditch pipe weaponry. The hunting rifle is maxed until I take gun nut two.
I return to Sunshine Trading Coop with my spoils and bring what I can back to Sanctuary hills. It takes two trips and thank you grilled radstag. Plus 25 carryweight for an hour, yes, please. It is my go to meal. Many radiation bambies will be slaughtered in this playthrough. :D
Planning what to do Next...while killing more Mirelurks. :D
Back at Sanctuary Hills, another 11 mirelurk meat and 7 eggs richer (yes, I killed the SoBs near the Robot disposal ground), I stare at the empty settlement around me and notice a few things.
1. I could seal in a portion of the area. The problem for me is that settlement sizes in FO often makes me crazy. Like even a Skyrim home, if it's too big or too spread out, will make me nuts. I like everything very close and very efficient. I watch videos on Sanctuary Hills settlements and I frown, too big. I've already moved my home twice because it was too far from the gate for my convenience.
2. I need settlers. Not a lot, but a few. Enough that they can get a steady supply of food coming in. For me to make adhesive from veggie starch and free food.
3. I need to start leaving the safety of Sanctuary hills, so I need to start thinking about creating hubs of settlements. Will I ever get Local Leader? No, my charisma will never be high enough, but I do see myself having a string of small settlements of two varieties.
A. Larger, producing settlements with fortified defenses equipped with radiation arcs, and supplies.
B. Small, uninhabited settlements that serve as a place for me to sleep and heal up. Or craft if they have the means.
I decide that for now, Sanctuary Hills and Starlight will be Settlement A types while Red Rocket and Sunshine Trading Coop will be Settlment B types. I have already created the items necessary to make Red Rocket and STC comfortable for me, but they have huge stores of supples in their work benches from my scrapping. Supplies I need to make Sanctuary Hills and Starlight Drive In stronger settlements...
Am I up for such a mass move of resources?
Yes, I am.
Should I take Codsworth or Dogmeat to make my life perhaps easier? Yes, probably, but no, I don't, they are a hassle. And I don't want to waste Fusion cells on transfering supplies. Yeah, I had thought about getting that suit of Power Armor near the crashed vertibird, but no. Besides, I've not stumbled on it yet in the game, so why would I go specifically for it.
It takes, I dunno, a lot of trips. I lost count. Maybe six or seven total? Eight? I dunno. A fooooooking lot. Scariest moment in FO 4 so far. I'm on my last trip from STC to Starlight, nearly full of items, having eaten some grilled radstag and then I see that a Stunted Yao guai has spawned along the path I'm supposed to take. I'm tired, hungry and thirsty and I have to evade him. Biggest moment of relief is when I make it to Starlight. Really what this lack of saving does is make you think about how you are going to engage or not engage. If I had lost the battle with the Yao guai, I would have had to have make two trips again because I realized I had forgotten to save.
With all supplies from both Red Rocket and STC transferred to Sanctuary Hills and Starlight, I am ready to set up my settlments.
Creature comforts and a Crafting Base (For now)
Sanctuary Hills is, IMO, too large of a settlement. At least for my style of play. My plan for it included reducing its size by almost half through the construction of junk fences starting just after the power armor station where the workbench is to the house opposite it. I then sealed off the perimeter surrounding what I had cut off by either placing picket fences or building junk fences, effectively sealing off two points of hostile entry. This leaves the front gate where the bridge is as basically the only point of entry. There, I station a sentry turret and a manned guardtower.
To the gate's immediate left and enclosed within a protective structure is a water purifyer. The one below the highest tier, I think, as I can't and won't ever be able to install a fusion generator or get local leader. It is powered by a small generator enclosed within a rail car for protection. It is protected by the turret on the roof of my residence, but eventually, I'll be adding a turret to guard the purifying exclusively and a guard.
It's really rather cool, I'm proud of the construction. Inside the rail car is a tiny little office with a desk and a tool box. Inside the tool box are the things I need to repair the purifyer. Another container has stored water. It is also powered and has a wee light or two. I have, by the say, since changed the gate and opted instead for a door, so I can funnel the fools that manage to get through the gate better.
I keep my own residence pretty much the same except that I now, because I have power, have replaced and stored the candles and lanterns with actual electricity and I've installed a decontamination arc. All the "developed" settlements will have this feature. The crafting stations are at my residence for ease. That doesn't mean that I've neglected my settlers. They are quite comfortable. Instead of using one of the broken houses, I construct an entirely new dwelling for them using one of the empty plots near my residence. I originally had a structure that held 8 beds and that's what you're seeing below, but then I expanded it with foundation into a place that now currently holds 10 with possible expansion to fourteen to allow for the Concord group with Preston. Fourteen is the largest settlement I can have for my charisma level.
It is a three level structure. Bottom level contains the beds and general living area. The second level is more open air with some furniture and then it opens into a large porch where I have the bench press and the pommel horse. Lol, love seeing them go there at night and hang out. The third level has a guard's barraks, a guard post and then on a structure on top of that is a windmill generator. No, not the most practical thing, but damn, does it look totally badass. That generator powers the Recruitment tower and extends electricity down into the second level of the settler's compound and throught the use of pilons, my residence.
Next to the settler's compound is a farm that even has a seperate subsection for a brahmin cattle. I currently grow tatos, mutfruit, corn, razor grain, carrots, and a smattering of gourds and melons. There is a sentry touret guarding the crops. As of now, I have eight settlers that produce 32 food. 22 water is produced, 6 power, and I have 19 defense. The sentries have withstood several attacks and there is considerable room for expansion of crops. The amount of settlers there now will compensate for the inconsistant activity of the Concord group that Preston brings. They tend to not work well. The advantage of Sanctuary Hills is that it has all crafting stations. The keen disadvantage, as with Red Rocket, is that it is in the blooming top left of the map. I'm not shlepping all the way there every time I want to craft. It serves me well, now that I'm in the beginning of the game, but gah, no, not permanently. The key will be getting it to the point where they can pretty much just defend themselves and I come in when I'm in the area and want to harvest. Trashcan Carla visits with enough frequency that I can trade with her.
A lot of bang for little buck... and VENDORS and Mirelurks!
It'd be foolish of me to not develop Starlight. Though it only has a workbench and a cooking station, it is a huge expanse and very close to Lexington and has not one, but two vendors at Drumlin Diner. But what was so awesome about the settlement was also something I found insanely annoying. It is basically two structures separated by a large expanse of flat pavement with a pond in the middle and the workbench to the side. You can do several things.
1. Make a large settlement on the pavement and then expand outwards, taking early advantage of a larger purifyer, but sealing off the settlement would be a challenge with regard to resource consumption. It is also wide open to attack.
2. Make a settlement that is where the theater diner is. It offers some interesting strategic points. It has height and room for a decent amount of beds. The disadvantage is that it is near two attack points and guess what, the attackers can open the doors and access the top. And also the perma skeleton there is just so ewwwww. You can lose it through console, but console commands are not allowed in Survival Mode. The solution would be to seal it off but you'd have to make sure that you are near some plantable soil when you do. My fiance opted for this approach, and he's made a great shanty settlement, though he also has to trek to access his purifyer.
3. Make a settlement where the movie screen is. The clear disadvantage is the crampted space and that the screen is very close to the limit of building space. The advantage however is the already two solid rooms and high roof top for building and accessing the cooking station accesses your workshop. Another advantage is that attackers have to traverse a hugely open area to even get to your settlement. And that your settlement is protected on one side by a giant tall screen facing the direction that the attackers typically come in! In addition, by making it small, you use less resources to fortify it. Like I said, I'll never get local leader, so having shops and such is something I can't have anyway.
I decide to try option three as an experiment. What if I completely sealed off the small area around the screen? What protection would it grant me against attackers?
Seems, a lot.
It doesn't look like much, I know. Very small. I took an image from far away so you could see just how small the settlement was. I built a junk fence hugging the border of the buildable space opposite the screen. At each corner, I placed a guard post upon a raised wooden foundation (the one with the stilts). You can plant under the stilts by the way. :D. In addition, on the slanted mini roof above the living space in the theater (the back rooms), I install two sentry tourets.
The compound is only accessible at one point. A door along the junk fence, but the way it got built, it has a bit of a jump to get to it. Settlers seem to get a bit stuck when they first arrive and wander around outside the screen, so I've had to open the door for them. They enter fine though. The smaller back room is my residence in this compound with a drinking fountain and storage. It opens to the cooking station. The larger room has 8 beds. Yes, I could cram more in, but gah, I don't like them being squashed, you know? I decorate their place with paintings and couches and some storage. All this time, I'm shuttling between here and Sanctuary hills, lots of walking. I also power up both rooms. I install my decontamination arc, plant a variety of crops, place wells, and install the recruitement beacon. I get three settlers, one on guard duty, the other two on food. In addition, I place two sentry tourets towards the front of the screen. Lights, camera action! Let's see if this experiment works. You can see how narrow things are in the image below.
Late in the development of Starlight, I do the quest associated with Thicket excavations, the one with the water pump that releases two Mirelurks. Only fifty caps it gives me because my charisma sucks. I kill them, I have a lot of mirelurk eggs, but making the cake consumes oil, which is what I need for my nifty new weapon. Trudy over at Drumlin diner had her a combat shotgun and I grabbed that puppy like it was gold. I love these guns. This, with a combat rifle, if I'm lucky enough to find one or buy one, makes pistols unecessary and I can now ignore Gunslinger in favor of Rifleman. At least for me. The combat rifle makes an effective sniping weapon and the combat shotgun makes the double barrel shotgun a joke for its fire rate alone. Eventually, I will get an assault rifle, but that's not happening for a long while. Yeah, it took caps and my new fashion sunglasses, some stout, and a nice outfit, and trading drugs, but damn. I got it now. Which means, lol, I need to leave my fledling settlement and mod my gun. Which means back to Sanctuary Hills.
Ugh, more walking. No wonder I get sick. :D Seriously, I'm at the end of this session, out of antibiotics. I started with five. HA! And I eat and sleep regularly. I'm really careful to not get peckish and parched and I sometimes down a anti microbial thing, but I'm just not lucky.
So, yes, will be purchasing Home Plate and taking Hangman's Alley because sheeet, I need something near the action with nearby workstations that are safe. Hangman's has a weapon station, while Home plate doesn't have any, but all crafting stations and quality vendors are near Diamond City. But that's another session. While modding my gun and trading my extra .38 ammon to Trashcan Carla in exchange for quality junk, I get a notification.
Starlight is under attack.
Oh Sheeeeeeet!
Back to Starlight.
I run and sprint my way back to Starlight Diner, huffing and puffing all the while, going "oh sheeeet if I ever have to defend a settlement on the other end of the map". I also want to consider finding an alterate water route for a lot of the settlements as that, I believe, will cut travel time.
I arrive to 6-8 raiders heading towards my poor babies! I help them out the best I can with my sniper, but I'm stuck on the hill and too far. and I know if they kill me, damn, to reload again. They came from the billboard side. I expect the worst when I finally finish dealing with all the raiders, including two with my new shotgun at the Diner side. I saw Molotov cocktails thrown, on both sides. I go past the raider bodies, not even looting and enter my settlement.
"We sure showed those raiders."
I am relieved to hear that from the guard. Not a single raider was found in the settlement. No crops destroyed. Only the two front sentries were damaged. You don't even need to repair them, you know. Just leave the settlement for a day and you'll come back to them being fixed. Not sure if this applies to the higher end turrets, but for the basic ones, yeah, it's good. Seems that this tiny little fortification is a strong one and it'll continue to grow.
As it stands, Starlight has three settlers. It produces 12 food, 12 water, has 6 power and a whopping 24 defense. I expect it to continue to grow, and I've the wood and steel to expand the settlement outwards.
The next session will see me trying to acquire enough caps to comfortably purchase Home Plate, so I have a crafting hub that is more centrally located and I can begin adventuring properly. I've not even started Preston's quest yet and while I'm a bit embarrased that I've not done so, I'm actually very happy that settlements have gotten such a strong headstart. Really the four he brings do nothing, leaving resources untapped until I then have to go through the whole settlement creation process with Sturges. Now, when they arrive, there is easily stuff for them to do. I'd eventually like both settlements to reach my charisma cap of fourteen. Sorry for the long read this time and thanks for looking.
