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You know, there is an ending that lets all three factions survive and coexist relatively peacefully. Its really convoluted though.

And I wonder how you pull that off?

Well, I got through the bare bones of my Sanctuary facelift last night. It's a real interesting technique which will allow you to snap everything in a single construction at any height due to the fact that the concrete foundation pieces don't worry about sliding through the landscape.

The first 'step' is to place a standard floor piece where you want your door to be. Be as accurate as possible when planting this piece, you want equal space either side of the steps, and as near inline with the building front as possible. Like so.


Once you have that piece in place, you can take other standard floor sections and 'snap' them into place connecting the one you placed and moving off the base to an area off to the side. It is most economical to remove the ones behind the leader and store them in the workshop. You should end up with a single floor section floating in space like this.

On the edge of this platform closest to your doorway, you can start laying the quarter square floor sections. Once you have laid enough without moving so that they can't snap anymore, you will lay one on top. Pick this one up, move it so it is as closely aligned to one of the ones underneath and place it down. Keeping your mouse still, continue to lay more of these floor pieces down. As one gets laid underneath your feet, you will rise up to the new level.

With practice, you can do this so that you have 3 columns of small floors that look like they are snapped vertically to each other. You can then make sure that the columns start with the lowest on the left as you look back toward the doorway, and each column starts one level higher than the one to it's left. continue to do this, starting at the left-most after the rightmost and you should end up with 3 columns making up a snapping tool and allowing you to snap other bits to any level you choose.

Once I had got this tool worked out, I actually spread the columns to make it easier to snap the piece I wanted at the correct level. I could then add foundation pieces at a constant level of my choosing, and I went around the base of my building two floor levels above where I stated.


This gave me the basis of my foundation. A ring of concrete as big as I could get. I was even able to get it to clip through the bush at the back of this property. I temporarily removed one of the blocks so I could snap a lower level set through the middle and end up with a lower level for my doorway.


I filled in the rest of the floor with standard wooden flooring so there is a slight gap underneath, but it evens out the floor inside. Then I went to a higher level and added a quarter floor to offset the base of the walls. This makes the rooms inside a bit smaller than otherwise, so plan big when starting. The height I chose was low enough to just get the concrete of the second layer to dip under the floor level, but you can also create a nice entranceway.


Building up and across from this, I ended up with this structure.



I still need to re-instate all of my defences, re-work my power supplies, and build a sign that I have been working on.

Very interesting to see how you do your's, Conrad.

I now have all my current power sources up off the ground and/or secured in "huts" neatly.

I found somewhere to practice your lockpicking today. A bank/safe deposit building with a sealed vault (that's a bank vault, not a vault vault), inside was about 15 safes with locks from novice to master.
I broke 4 picks (of my well north of 100 picks), and 3 of them were on the novice locks. I seem to break picks on more novice locks than any others.

Does anyone else think that the lockpicking is easier in FO4 than in 3 or NV? Or is that just me?

Also, has anyone else stopped to listen to what some of the "cannon fodder" has to say to each other when they think they are not about to be killed?
I've had a couple of funny ones, both raiders;
One conversation was about a group of raiders and a kid afraid of fire. Long story short, they put him on a raft of mattresses and set it on fire, as it floated on a river...

Another was about a man that ran past the gang of raiders, Carrying a desk fan: "Who carries a desk fan about?" (My thought at this point was "I'm sure I'm carrying about 3 at the moment"), pretending to be riding a motorcycle, making the noises, and pretending to throw a grenade at the raiders.

Also, while waiting to get a good shot at a supermutant, I heard one searching for me say something along the lines of "lets see what you think about this" and he started firing wildly.

Because none of my settlements have EVER been attacked in the entire 80+ hours on my character. I said screw it! Installed a unlimited build mod and cheated myself a crap ton of resources in the Castle and Sanctuary

Dr H, it would be interesting to see how you do yours. I have left most of the satellite settlements how they are for now, but would like to re-work them to the style you have used. It would make more sense for my character to try and concentrate the technology and the better buildings at Sanctuary for the general township type of dwelling, and the Castle for the centre of Minuteman military capability.

Everything else should be the post-apocalypse 'shanty town' and there is at least one settlement I need to raise to the ground and start from scratch.

So far as Sanctuary goes, I have to do a lot more scrounging if I am ever to finish it. I still have to add in a doorway on the end block, the only way there at the moment is through the bridge from the Minutemen HQ building.

The sign I have started on for the side of that bridge is eventually going to cost me 358 copper, 356 Steel, 178 Glass, 216 Aluminium, 108 Gears, 90 Screws, 72 Rubber, and 54 nuclear Material. all to make 178 lightboxes and the 18 large generators to power them. All to make a flashing sign that should be visible all night across a large portion of the commonwealth saying "Sanctuary".

 Dr H wrote:

Also, has anyone else stopped to listen to what some of the "cannon fodder" has to say to each other when they think they are not about to be killed?
I've had a couple of funny ones, both raiders;

Another was about a man that ran past the gang of raiders, Carrying a desk fan: "Who carries a desk fan about?" (My thought at this point was "I'm sure I'm carrying about 3 at the moment"), pretending to be riding a motorcycle, making the noises, and pretending to throw a grenade at the raiders.

I was stealthing outside a building where some Raiders try to lure you in with a "come help me!" type trap. It was early in the game. A pair of raiders on guard were talking, one of them told the other about how one victim got away by doing just that! I got a little chuckle before I set them on fire.

Shadow Captain, that's actually pretty cool. If I wasn't so dug into the Minutemen quest line already, I'd probably do that ending for this playthrough.

Conrad Turner wrote:Dr H, it would be interesting to see how you do yours.

I pretty much follow what that chap does in the YouTube videos does.
Basic run through for a sanctuary house:
Clear out the interior, start with a clean slate; the furniture often gets in the way for the patching work.
Add the ceiling (as seen in the video). I only use one layer of the thin "Wooden" roof sections (the rusty corrugated metal one that seems to have many pinholes in).
Fill the holes in the walls (as seen in the video). I don't fill the windows though; let a bit of natural light in and I'm hoping for a mod in the future to add glass windows.
Add furniture to taste.

The upper areas are similar to that seen in the videos, although I have deviated in places.
Start with one wooden shack foundation and position it on the highest point of the original roof; if should clip into in, but will mostly be red and you will have to move it about to find what may be the one "perfect" position where it will go. Make sure that it is higher than the top of the roof, AND square (or near enough) with the rest of the house.
Once that is on you should be able to snap on more foundation pieces to cover the whole house.

There are, however, a few areas that will cause problems;
The chimneys - If you're lucky you will just miss a square in the middle that you can box in with walls and a roof/floor on top, and all will be well.
However, I did find a nice alternative in one of my houses...
...I was able to add some quarter floor pieces and was left with a hole of only half a square (with a chimney in). I tried boxing that in with a full wall on each side and the "end pieces" at each end; however, I couldn't snap one of the walls on (but could place it very close to the edge), and the end walls stopped me putting a roof/floor over it. So in a moment of inspiration I tried to clip some things "through" the chimney (rug glitch) to fill the hole: I ended up with a pair of rugs (large blue one) that spanned the hole and when I removed the doormat they dropped through the floor but filled the hole. I can walk over it and don't fall into the hole. I just need to put a table or something over the chimney... or make it a feature.

If you are not square enough, some of the foundations will stick out from the house and not appear to be supported. Either don't use those corners and have an interesting shape, or pull them all off and reposition the first foundation again.

Also, some houses just won't let you clip a foundation though the roof. I had this problem with the "workshop" house; half the roof just won't let a foundation clip through it, so that one is an odd shape.

And lastly, the original flat roof over the driveway can be too low for the extended foundations to sit on, and you will end up with a gap and they won't look supported again. I just don't build above them.

Anyway, once you have the foundation pieces up and "solved" the chimney issue, you can add the walls.
Start with a doorway. Affix a stairway to the doorway:
I've got stairs that lead straight up to the door, but when you have a door in the doorway it seems a bit odd having to stand way down the stairs to open it (how do you reach the handle and/or not knock yourself off the stairs in the process), so building a platform of small floors (one can be enough) and then stairs up to the platform can look better.

One of the later houses I've done has the ladder up to the roof over the driveway. This ended up quite tricky as none of the ladders were the right length to go from a platform on top of the drive to the foundations above the house. I ended up with some of the shack steps being used to get the platform at the right height and look like the original roof was supporting my walkway, I added a bridge as a support for the walkway out from there... and then...
...From the foundation, I added one "shack steps" so that a "short stairs" would reach and allow you to step up. But none of that looked supported... So a clipped in a junk fence into the house, under the foundation, using the rug glitch from the walkway (the first doormat needs something to sit on), and then again using the rug glitch to get the short ladder to fit over the junk fence. It all only just worked out and you can walk up, the fence only just pops though the floor at the edge of the foundation (so I can't build a wall around that side).

Using a "scaffold" (or platform of floors) for the rug glitch could allow you to add junk fences around the base of the foundations and hide the original roof entirely.
I may experiment with this next time a build a house, and I'll try and find a better way to do the above walkway onto the "garage" roof, and then I'll remember to take screenshots to show you all the process.

A note on using the bridges for walkway support: I find it better to build the walkway first and then slot the bridge under it and then raise it up until it meets the walkway. Add the fences around the walkway first though as the bridge can interfere with their snapping on the sides.
The high bridge I have between my house and the workshop roof is just 2 of the bridges high. However it does need some trial an error, as the upper bridge won't clip into the lower bridge and won't move up and down with the lower one. So you have to set the height of the lower bridge and then slot in the upper bridge between that and your walkway above.
Then hide the lower bridge with clipped in (rug glitch) junk fences.

The walls around the upper floor are really a matter of taste. They just snap on.
The extension ones do give a lot more room inside and don't hang out too much to look unsupported.

Then you want to power it. There's probably a whole series of videos on the internet about the "best" way to wire up a settlement; it's such a seemingly dark art.
I've taken to running the wires for the upstairs around the floor (as the wires at head height annoy me a little) and found that the wires can sag "into" the floor for quite a distance, completely hiding them.
Beyond that, it's just placement of the connections and finding a hole in a wall.

Although, on my house, I used a couple of the roof sections that have a corner missing. Placed them together to give a large hole, and then placed a tall elec' tower up through the hole, ran the power from the rooftop windmill to it and then down, through the hole, to connections inside.

The sign I have started on for the side of that bridge is eventually going to cost me 358 copper, 356 Steel, 178 Glass, 216 Aluminium, 108 Gears, 90 Screws, 72 Rubber, and 54 nuclear Material. all to make 178 lightboxes and the 18 large generators to power them. All to make a flashing sign that should be visible all night across a large portion of the commonwealth saying "Sanctuary".

It has been a long time since I've even considered if I had the resources to build something, I just build things, or I'm out looting things. It's been a very long time since I wanted to build something and been told that I don't have the things to build it.
However, after you posted this, I checked my workshop and found that I was down to my last 30 wood. So a ran about Sanctuary and scrapped a few of the more "unsightly" trees still standing (there are still more left) and went back up to over 300 wood.

Couldn't tell you what it cost in resources to make my "flashy tower", but it was a lot of work to get all the wiring just right, as each floor has a separate set of wires so that they are powered, and can be switched, individually.

At least you only need to attach a computer to each item once to set the colour/on-off timing/etc. and can then remove it. You can even use the same wire that is powering the item.

Well, that all ended up longer than I expected... Picture says a thousand words etc...
More pictures next time.

I'm trying to turn County Crossing into a proper settlement, and because it's quite resource poor, I ended up looting everything from Coastal Cottage, Greygarden, and one of the other little settlements - which I'll regret when I get around to making them into mighty bastions of awesomesauce, but saves me going scavenging for hours. You know you're resource poor when you're more excited to find a Super Mutant carrying a board of wood than a modded-out laser...

*quickly looks at how many "boards" he has in Sanctuary hills workshop*

63

That should be good for a bit of wood.

I just completed the Minutemen questline, since it felt like the most morally right choice before I learned about the peaceful ending. It was hard to get through it, but I'm glad that I did it. Not sure if I'll keep playing on this character, or just hop to the next one.

Decided to go and try some mods from Nexus Mods. Since when is that a pay site?

 BrookM wrote:
Decided to go and try some mods from Nexus Mods. Since when is that a pay site?

Certain things you have to pay for. Such as faster download speed etc.

I have used it quite a bit, and I have enough mods to entertain me for a long time.

 BrookM wrote:
Decided to go and try some mods from Nexus Mods. Since when is that a pay site?

It's not. If you do pay, you get better download speeds, and access to more servers (and it's how they support them), but it's completely optional. I assume you are registering, scroll down to the bottom and pick "free", and you won't be bothered again (other than author requests for donations).

I said there would be pictures, and here are pictures.

Building this construction has now pushed Sanctuary hills past 3 times the "vanilla" settlement limit (you will see the size in the corner of the screenshots suddenly drop as I up the limit in console to 6 times).

This is the house I started with. You will notice that I've already "fixed" the original house, with ceilings, patched holes, a doorway and wired for lighting (the power is coming from the house next door, but my modifications allow it to power itself).


Start with one shack foundation. Stand on the ground (I've noticed that clipping into buildings doesn't work if you are above the surface you want to clip through, it's more likely if you are below the surface) and move the foundation about until it can be placed.


Then snap more foundations to that original and check that the structure is square enough to not overhang part of the house that is supposed to be supporting it.
I had to go back and move the original foundation 3 or 4 times for this one.


Then came the stairway.
The build for this was more experimental and so the step-by-step pictures are in bigger steps as I tried one way and then changed it later.
The floor pieces onto the roof are placed "first", and then I snapped the shack steps to the side of one (these were required as the long stairs couldn't reach from the ground to the platform in one go and would either need something on the ground to step on first or these added steps).
Then, one small floor piece was snapped to the top of the stairs and the whole (hold select) was moved into position under the shack steps. This was difficult to get it all lined up properly and took many attempts.

Then add the railings around all that, before adding the support structure.

As the platform onto the roof was quite high and the driveway sloped away from it, I had to add a concrete shack foundation to give a flat surface for the shack bridge to stand on. However, at it's lowest, the foundation was too high for the bridge to fit between it and the platform, and the bridge won't clip into the foundation normally.
Like many of the items that will snap to other items, the rug glitch doesn't work on them and I had to resort to using the console "tcl" command to get it to work:
To do this, have both items (the one to clip into and the one you want to clip into it) on hand,
Enter console and type "tcl",
Then select the stationary item (the foundation in this case) and then cancel that ("tab") so it goes back to where it was,
Then pick up the item you want to clip into it (the bridge in this case) and move it into position, it will completely ignore the other item.
"tcl" again in console once you've finished. Don't touch them again.

Move the bridge up as high as it will go under the platform, it will naturally clip into walkways/stairs/railings on occasion, allowing you to get it high enough to look like it is supporting the weight.


On this house I found that I have the wood foundations at the right height that I could extend them onto the drive's roof, and I ended up using a long stairway to get from there to the foundations. It should snap on to the foundation (or doorway if you use one) and clip into the roof (which should be thick enough that it doesn't stick out the bottom).



Here is my rug method of filling the chimney hole problem:
If the chimney is far enough off centre, add a couple of small floors to lessen the gap (a large hole can also be filled with rugs in the same way though, just requires more),

Then use the rug glitch to get the large rug in position over the hole,

Remove both small mats (store in workshop) and the large rug will drop though the flooring,
Do this twice and you have filled the gap and can walk on it with no problems.


Add walls to you own design/taste.



And this is something I do with those extension wall sections if I want to leave it as a "window" instead of filling it with a "wall end"

It doesn't snap on and you have to position it manually, but you can get it pretty close.

The get a roof on before the weather turns for the worst...


Remove one of the central foundations and add a stairway.

Fill the remaining space between the roof pieces with shack upper floors


I added a windmill up here and tried to get it to face about the same direction and the other two previous houses (that's why it's at a funny angle here).


I ran the cables around to a hole I left in the roof (one of the pieces with a missing corner), and placed a small pylon above the hole and a connection under the hole so that I could run the power into the interior.


I ran the cables about that floor and then out a convenient hole and joined it to downstairs to make the house self contained.

Then I set about experimenting with filling the gap about the roof/foundations.
It is possible.
It is a lot of work/stress.
Junk fences don't look good up there: They may look fine sitting on a surface, like the ground, but not halfway up a structure. Also being only 3 basic designs they will repeat often. And lastly, they can be just slightly too tall to fully fit under the flooring of the upper floor.

All is not lost though.
I tried with the usual wooden walls and found that the "flat" pieces (the one without any "roof" on them) will slot in under the foundations without any tricks...
So long as you keep them away from the uprights on the foundations.

First I build a scaffold for me to stand on (as I was originally going to be doing this with the rug glitch).

Then move the wall section (you do have to do them one at a time and I didn't get any to snap together inside) into place.

Like adding the first foundation to the roof there is usually a very fine line between being able to place it and not.

When it came to the corner under the stairs I opted to use the junk fence corner piece as I could not get a wall to slot into the raising roof. This did use the rug glitch.

The other side of the stairs I added an end wall piece and more junk fence pieces as they look fine above the driveway.

These are the finished pictures:



It was such a faff that I didn't bother to do around the back, and I don't think I'll do this regularly around other houses.

But there you go, it is possible.

And one last tip.
If you have a piece of the sloping roof to spare, you can build a stair up to it and then a stair from the foundation to the roof and do away with the need for any complex platforms.

You should submit this to one of those youtube channels like LoneVaultWanderer who do best "Fallout 4 Settlement builds" videos.

This is probably my 2nd favourite settlement build, my favourite being something very similar to this but complete. Yours is a WIP but I think when you're done, your version will give that one a run for its money.

I love these lore friendly shanty towns as opposed to the gigantic concrete monolith structures because these are so lore friendly. Your settlement looks like a real shanty town.

Thanks SCE. Maybe I will when I've finished it.

The interiors are quite barren for the most part, so those will need kitting out before I can give a proper tour.

The one above has got some added tables and chairs, with a radio, tv, cigarette machine and ashtray. As it has 3 guard posts I thought I'd give the guards something to do. There's even some outdoor chairs and table upstairs, and no smoking signs next to the guard posts.

Even the one above my own house only has the bobblehead stand and the magazine racks.

Much more decorating required.

Thanks for that Dr H. That has given me a much improved understanding of how to create that sort of look. I suppose that up to now I have been scared to do that sort of thing as I didn't know how it would work out.

I have almost completed my Minuteman HQ building - which is a concrete/steel tower block - and as soon as I have, I plan on making the rest of the settlement a 'shanty town' look to it thanks to your inspiration. I think that'll be most fitting for the settlement. The official 'home' of the minutemen using the best of the resources, and the rest being the town that sprang up to service that building. I will look forward to taking the Castle as soon as I have finished and working on the same plan there.

The majority of the 'radiant' settlements I have left completely as they were except for the addition of a power supply and a couple of missile turrets for defence. They will also get the shanty town treatment now.

I don't understand the complaints for Lorenzo's Artifact. I put the energy weapon mod on the gun and it works great. I killed five ghouls with a single shot once.

Well, my opinions on energy weapons are well known - though my shiny new Gauss rifle almost made me reconsider - but I personally went for the serum, just because I already had an arsenal of good weapons, but I was always popping Radaway and Buffout like smarties, so it seemed like a no-brainer to take the serum.

It's basically a gamma gun with knockback, right? I mean, that's fine, and I may get it in another playthrough, but for me, it just seemed more like a trophy weapon, than something I'd use.

And has anyone found that some of the Legendary weapons are useless?

I found one last night that had me in stitches - a Gamma gun that does 50% extra damage to ghouls. But aren't ghouls immune to the gamma gun? So 150% of 0 is still 0 and therefore it's just a fancy named normal gamma gun. The only thing I think I could do is mod it to do additional electric damage and then it would do 150% of that electrical damage to ghouls.

Still going to prefer my explosive tommy gun.

And should have the two towers finished tonight, the steps on the secondary building have been a nightmare to get right, but I'm over half way through them. Will have to pop back to Diamond city market for some more copper to run some more wiring before I seal the basement, and then I hope to be able to finish the stairs to the doorway and start thinking of the copper I need for the two statues. Then it's on to the interior furnishings, and then the shanty town for the rest of Sanctuary. Then I may finally get around to taking Independence for the first time ever.

 Mr Nobody wrote:
I don't understand the complaints for Lorenzo's Artifact. I put the energy weapon mod on the gun and it works great. I killed five ghouls with a single shot once.

"Kills a lot of ghouls" isn't exactly a high benchmark.

 Conrad Turner wrote:
And has anyone found that some of the Legendary weapons are useless?

Ridiculously often, if only for the fact that the weapon itself is usually so woefully underpowered for my point in the game that the mod on it can't even begin to make up for it. Other mods can just be so situational that they're functionally useless, such as enemy-specific weapons; especially if you've already got the same/similar gun with a mod like Instigator.

On the reverse, some mods are just so globally powerful that you might as well sell 90% of the other legendaries you get. Instigator is one of them, and Two-Shot quickly gets ridiculous on higher-end weapons, with explosive bullets also being rather strong.

I'd personally prefer Legendary weapons to work off a sort of 'levelling' system, where the mod gets better the more you actually kill with it as opposed to being super-strong off the bat. Some guns might starts off with a small bonus to damage against everything, and grow towards certain enemies if you kill more of them; working with a cap you could hit, for example, weapon level 20 with 5% against everything, and also because you killed a lot of Raiders and Abominations, a higher percentage against those. This'd stop it becoming a weapon that became powerful against everything, but also felt more personalised to you, and told a story. Perhaps you can get guns that deal extra headshot damage if you kill so many enemies with headshots, or a greater chance of crippling/removing limbs the more you do it with the weapon.

Perhaps dump Legendary weapons altogether, turning it into a pure personalisation system based off how you use the weapon.

The stuff that gets me with Legendary gear isn't so much the weapons (Though when exactly I want to do poison damage to a synth I have no idea) as the armour - I mean, I have my set of combat armour: one bit that gives me reduced falling dmg, one that makes me invisible when crouched, and the rest are stat-boosters, but stuff that reduces your damage from super mutants seems so situational as to be useless.

I think that's my main feeling with a lot of legendary stuff - the good stuff gives you bonuses in any situation, the stuff that only works versus a single type of enemy is just vendor trash, I think.

Also, is it just me, or is Synth armour ridiculously ugly? I had a chestpiece with +1 S and E, but I hated wearing it because it looked like I had a toilet seat around my neck!
I do wish you could paint your armour different colours without giving it special effects - I use "Shadowed", partly for it's utility in a sneaky playstyle, but mostly down to the colour, I feel limited in the mods I'm willing to use on armour because I don't like walking around in bright white combat armour, even if it gives me a bonus I wanted.

I've installed a Nexus Mod that lets me deconstruct legendary weapons and mix & match the mods to create whatever I like. Melee weapons can carry TWO mods.

Melee gets stupidly OP that way - Kremvh's Tooth + Grognak's Axe mods + supersledge + 5 points in the melee weapon perk + armour mods or legendary modded power armour = 400+ dmg.

I agree on those points. I use my standard .50 sniper rifle and my explosive tommy gun WAY more than anything else.

And as to armour, well, since having got Ballistic Weave from the Railroad, I'm tromping about in a Tux with armour of double what my old combat armour had and I have a lower minimum weight so I can carry more. Piper has on a very nice sequined dress and a new 'do.

I did like the ratings when I got the synth armour, but didn't have it on for long as I really didn't like the look of it.

And on the subject of armour ............ why can't you add the supermutant armour you can pick up to a power armour frame. That would be wonderfull!

I think I'd prefer the option to become an actual super mutant to be honest.

That reminds me - is there a way to become a ghoul? Cos I was playing with cosmetic surgery, and if you play with the scars and stuff you can get pretty close to ghoulish, but is there an actual option to become a ghoul? I'd like to go around calling people "smoothskin".

If not, I may do a playthrough where I do the "cosmetic" method, and take rad resist and cannibalism-based perks... that could be fun...