Fallout 4 Settlement Guide – Base Building, Materials & Settlers

One of the most exciting new features in the Fallout franchise gives players the opportunity to build and manage their own Settlements. This Fallout 4 Settlement Guide – Base Building, Materials & Settlers will cover everything you need to know to have your Settlements flourishing in no time.

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When you first have the opportunity to turn an area into a Settlement it’s important that you prioritize correctly. Initially you want to focus on Beds, Food and Water. Then you can turn your attention to defenses and other items. You want to make sure that your defense is always above, or very close to, your food and water capacity limits as the severity of an attack depends on the amount of resources your settlement controls.

It is worth investing heavily into a single Settlement to begin with as later you can unlock perks that perform better in a stronger Settlement. Such as constructing trade stalls to provide regular income from your Settlements, or using perks to link two Settlements together to share resources – saving you having to build food, water and other valuable items in multiple locations.

How To Assign Settlers To Food & Defenses

While in the Workshop Menu, find a Settler and speak with them. Immediately after doing that find a task you want to assign the Settler, such as harvesting a crop, and highlight the crop. The option to “assign” the Settler should be visible. Assign the Settler to move on. The same technique applies when assigned a Settler to a defensive structure. Note: If you do not assign Settler’s to certain items, they will not provide any return.

How To Get The Materials

Initially collecting materials is very simple. While you are in the Workshop menu you can explore the designated area of a particular Settlement. You can then interact with a huge variety of objects, everything from a basketball and log to an entire house, and scrap the item for materials. This provides plenty of materials to give your Settlers the basics, such as shelter, beds and basic supplies.

You can interact with any of the benches to store all of your “junk” items in that particular Settlement. If you then construct something that requires particular materials, it will automatically scrap items in storage and turn them into the materials you need. You can also highlight the items in storage to see exactly what materials they offer so if you’re short of a particular type of material, this can give you the intel you need to grab more on your next venture into the wastelands.

Defending Your Settlements

You don’t need to waste a lot of materials on defenses if you stay alert. When one of your Settlements is under attack you will get an in-game message in the top left corner of the screen. You can simply fast travel to the location, defend it manually and then return to your duties. This works very well in the early stages although later in the game you may find yourself overwhelmed so if you feel the attacks are getting too difficult, construct a few turrets to be safe.

Fallout 4 Settlement Guide F&Q

Q: How do you get Settlers to gather food?
A: In Workshop mode highlight the Settler and look for the “Go” command on-screen. Select that and then highlight the food you want them to gather until it reads “assign”, then select that.

Q: How do you get more Settlers to join your Settlements?
A: Construct a Recruitment Radio Beacon in the Power – Miscellaneous section. You can find other details here.

Q: How do you earn money from your Settlements?
A: Learn Local Leader perk and then construct the different stalls in the Stores section

Q: Why won’t my Electric items work?
A: Most electric items require a direct link to a generator. Highlight your generator when you have some copper and you will have the option to connect wires to different items. Make sure they are in close proximity and there is nothing blocking the path or it will not work

Q: How do I get food for my Settlement?
A: It’s incredibly easy to find food items past the first hour or two of the game. If you’re struggling to find your first food seeds to plant head either East or South West of the Sanctuary to nearby farms and harvest their crops to plant at home

Q: Where can I find Copper?
A: You can get Copper from scrapping certain items and you can also buy it from some vendors. Check out our Fallout 4 Infinite Copper guide for the best techniques.

Q: How do I create supply lines between Settlements?
A: Supply lines are fantastic. They let you share resources between linked Settlements. First you will need to raise your Charisma to 6 and then unlock the Local Leader perk. Once you’ve got the prerequisites simply speak to a Settler while in Workshop mode and an option will be available at the bottom to select Supply Lines. If it is grayed out, speak with another Settler. For more details check our Supply Lines guide.

Q: How do I craft artillery for my Settlements?
A: You need to progress through the Minutemen quest line. More details on our artillery unlock guide.

Q: Where can I purchase lots of materials for my Settlement?
A: There are a number of traders that sell Material Shipments that allows you to purchase larges amounts of a single material. For more information check out our Fallout 4 – List Of Vendors Who Sell Settlement Material Shipments

If you have any questions feel free to post a comment below and we’ll be sure to help if we can.

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