Fallout 4 has lit the creative spark in me. Settlement building is quite a lot fo fun and breaks up the game pace quite nicely. The game itself is pretty good too, yet requires a bit of effort to enjoy. Just going from quest marker to quest marker killing everything in sight can get boring. Yet there are some nice backstories to be found in all the terminals, From simple banter and test reports to whole stories like the Cabbot family quest line. For me exploring all the different locales is the biggest draw of the game. There is always something to find around the next corner.

However recently settlement building has become just as time consuming as exploring the world.

First the basics, Eurogamer has 3 nice short guides to explain how it all works

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-11-11-getting-started-with-fallout-4-base-building


http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-11-19-how-to-take-fallout-4-base-building-to-the-next-level


http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-11-26-how-to-power-and-program-your-fallout-4-settlements


And a cool collection of the crazy possibilities
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-11-20-fallout-4-base-builders-are-using-mods-to-make-incredible-settlements


I'm playing on ps4, no access to mods or cheats, yet that's not stopping me. There is a very useful glitch to get around the size limit for settlements. Drop any weapons (maybe other stuff as well) from you inventory on the ground inside a settlement. Then go into build mode, highlight them and store them in the work bench. Everytime you store (or scrap) an item the size bar goes down. Dropping them from your inventory doesn't make it go up, so no limits :) Sure, the frame rate will take a hit eventually. Still runs pretty well with about 5 times as much build in Sanctuary as was originally allowed.

Anyone else enjoying or not enjoying certain aspects of Fallout 4?

My version of Sanctuary so far features a guardhouse at the end of the bridge with laser tripwire alarm system


Shopping mall with all the shops.


Sniper/watch tower


5 story hotel with restaurant/bar at the bottom floor where everyone gathers at night


There's also a metal command tower (old picture pre defenses upgrades)


And this is me, also old picture, got better armor now


I'm currently working on a huge electronic billboard on the side of the hotel with independently flashing elements. It's going to consist of just over 200 monitors. The hotel is wrapped up in scaffolding atm, need more copper.

A copy of Picket Fences magazine found at Hardware Town.  I have the picket fences and patio furniture magazines, too, but not the statues edition.  

That hotel is amazing work.  I'm looking for somewhere to start another big project.  It won't be Sanctuary, though, because Garvey gives me like three timed missions whenever I go back, which also happens at the Castle.  Right now, I'm getting all settlements up and running with at least 3 settlers and plenty of defense, which is eating into my rare materials.  That settlement out on the island is right on the beach so I might build something there.

As far as the actual game, I just finished Valentine's quest-line, which was pretty nifty.  Those Winter tapes were all interesting.

Now I've got to decide what to do with this Deathclaw egg ...

Edit:  my character, by the way.

Nice outfit! I'm not that far into the actual game yet, just recently hit lvl 36 yet a lot of my xp came from building. It adds up.
I only have Tempines, Abenathy and Covenent up and running so far. I need a new hub to link supply lines, always short on materials when I find a new settlement. I usually give them some armor pieces and a better gun and wish them goodluck lol.
Starlight seems to be a good spot for a central hub indeed. I should get around to fixing that place up a bit. I orignally took all materials from there to build that hotel. I don't think I have the beach settlement unlocked yet. I did have a big shootout on the island last night, perhaps I missed it. There are still plenty of places to look, the map full of things to find.

Right now I need to head back here for the Abbot quest line (I think)

I couldn't enter it before.

Thanks for the tip about the magazines. I don't always pay attention to what I pick up, just hoovering up everything in range, sort it out later. Works fine except my Misc section is so big by now it's hard to find anything. I always head to Goodneighbour to sell any excess loot and trade it for a shipment of copper and adhesive. Plus I have scrapper perk 2 and the looking glass icon on the rare materials. That makes anything containing something I want light up green when I get close. Plus easy to find the items when buying junk from vendors. No need to buy weapons or ammo, might as well buy junk to build with :) Since I upgraded my weapons to do max damage at slow fire rate, I seem to be swimming in bullets.

Ah man, looks so good! Just need the money for it, wasn't gunna get it because of all the talk about it being "glitchy" and all that but went to a friend's the other day, played it on playstation 4 and only encountered a drop in fps a few times and the occasional glitch in the graphics. That's nothing! A patch will be good but I'm sure I'll be able to deal with it without one hahahaa great settlements guys!!

I haven't been there yet.  There is SO MUCH I haven't done yet.  It's insane how big this game is.  I'm swimming in missions yet I know there are tons of places I haven't been and several companions I haven't used.

I have 21 settlements, all linked except for one.  I keep forgetting about it.  All are well defended with turrets.  I'm swimming in wood and steel but low on oil and gears.  I've been avoiding main storyline missions while I run around taking over settlements.

That outfit is a mod someone made.  They can't do much yet but they can do retextures and recolors.  I hated the original blue, it felt silly to sneak around in that, yet it's really good under armor.  Today I downloaded a mod that lets you wear any clothing under armor, though, and add modifications to them, as well as hats.  Nothing overpowered, it just gives me more choices.  The other mod I picked up is for performance.

Last night I ventured into the radiative wasteland at the bottom of the map and watched a Glowing Deathclaw fight two Glowing Radscorpions.  That was kind of awesome.

Talking about Plasma guns, I just put together a Plasma sniper rifle.  It's 96+96 damage.  I'm eager to try it out.

what outfit is your character wearing? I dont' recognize it, although I'm not that far in relatively speaking (level 20 or so)

It's a PC mod.  Just a simple retexture of the original vault suit.  There are a few different styles and other people have made their own retextures.

Deeeeznuuuts said: Ah man, looks so good! Just need the money for it, wasn't gunna get it because of all the talk about it being "glitchy" and all that but went to a friend's the other day, played it on playstation 4 and only encountered a drop in fps a few times and the occasional glitch in the graphics. That's nothing! A patch will be good but I'm sure I'll be able to deal with it without one hahahaa great settlements guys!!

I works pretty well. The most slowdown I had was in the early Cortega factory mission and one other time with lots of fog/smoke. The game did crash on me 3 times already (in 60+ hours) Saves are quick and frequent anyway, with multiple autosave and quick save slots. There is the occosianal glitch, nothing game breaking so far. It's a lot better than any previous Bethesda games and pretty much on par with other recent openworld games. It runs better than TW3 at release.

The frame rate is starting to tank in my version of Sanctuary. I've overloaded it so much using a glitch to get around the size limit that it's now hitting 20 fps a lot after I fast travel in. A patch won't fix that, but might close the exploit!

I've been avoiding Diamon city, first trying to finish all the quests I had not related to Diamond city,  yet I keep getting more follow ups. I liberated Castle last night, Preston immediately started piling more Settlement quests on me doh. I haven't been to the wasteland yet, sounds awesome. I have the special -36000 rads serum and a hazmat suit. Bring on the rads.

I started on the Starlight settlement. Already connected to 7 more settlements. Of course I had to put the recruitment beacon all the way on the top :)


I can't build small in a hub, little buildings are for farms

It comfortably houses 20 beds so far

Back in Sanctuary work is underway on the electronic sign on the side of my hotel. Well not really a hotel anymore as everyone has taken up residence in it instead of using the houses, causing a bit of a traffic jam on the stairs at night. It's a bit further along now, top layer of the scaffolding has come off, still a lot more to do before I can fire it up.


I hit level 39 just before I quit for the night (erm morning, was 5am again). That unlocks gun nut rank 4, so I'm going to tinker with my guns next. Oh I found the zeta gun, radiation dmg, evil weapon on humans :)