Fallout 4 - it's official! Coming Nov 10, '15

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GusSmed

Senior member
Feb 11, 2003
403
2
81
I ran through the Vault Tec Workshop quests. The presence of which rather surprised me - unlike the Wasteland Workshop and the Contraptions Workshop, the Vault Tec DLC has more to it than just a bunch of new settlement parts.

Vault 88's cavern is actually a rather interesting place. It's huge, and there's a lot of stuff to clear before you can build your vault. Much of it is behind walls that must be deconstructed in Workshop mode. Further, unlike the Mechanists's Lair, it gets attacked. It's actually the best settlement in this regard, because the spawn points are well outside the usable area of the cavern. Proper defenses and walls actually make sense here, because attackers only come through breaches to the outside world (of which there are three).

The Vault 88 quest line is rather short. Basically it involves clearing the cavern and running some tests for a psychotic pre-war Vault Tec overseer. Thus the "you can run experiments on your vault dwellers" bullet point turns out not to be something dumb like the arena stuff in Wasteland Workshop, but a series of four short quests. They're way too short, but you have some entertaining choices as to what your experiments should do.

The Vault stuff is different. It's much better than the player-made Vault mods. For one thing, all the modules have built-in wiring, so routing power is much easier than a normal settlement. There are wall power connectors that look a bit like the base-game power connectors and which radiate power for lights. Slap one on the wall, connect your power generator or device that needs a wired connection into the plug, and it's connected to every other connector in the complex without having to run wire.

The vault pieces are highly modular, but also rather restrictive. There are a bunch of different zones (Atrium, corridor, various room types), and they only snap to pieces from the same zone. The significant exception is Door pieces, which will snap to any other door module. There's even printing on the outside of the door module that says "connect to door."

Overall, the building experience is like putting together a Habitrail set, you can do a lot with the modules, but there are some things you can't do because of module restrictions. Unlike the base game, walls are always part of some other module that includes a floor or ceiling (with a couple of minor exceptions). The upshot is that only the Atrium pieces support multi-story rooms, but the Atrium pieces won't let you put a door in a corner, and the Room sets will. It's impossible to build a 1x1 room, the smallest room is 2x2 (four corner pieces). Stairways are 2x2 (for the ones with landings) or 2x1 (for the straight stairs). One the other hand, the Vault supports proper rooms in a way the base game pieces don't.

The Vault ends up taking up more space than a wooden settlement might, but that's not a problem because the cavern is so big both in area and height. Clearing the cavern gives you plenty of steel and rubber for Vault piece construction, and the vault pieces aren't all that expensive.

Vault pieces are restricted to the Vault 88 cavern only. You can't build a massive above-ground modular complex on the Starlight Drive In site, sadly.

EDIT: OK, it appears I was wrong. The vault pieces are showing up on the build list above ground now. Maybe you have to complete the Vault 88 quests before you're allowed to do that.
 
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GusSmed

Senior member
Feb 11, 2003
403
2
81
So, I'm playing through Nuka World, and I talked Oswald into leaving without fighting and MacReady "disliked that." WTF, MacReady? What's wrong with you? I'd understand if it were Gage or Cait, but since when were you that much of a Raider at heart?
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
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Anieuy7.jpg
That is awesome.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
126
I just fired up Fallout 4 after a couple of months away, and the first thing I did was build a Vault Tec Management Console. I was quite disappointed to see that it has fewer features than the Settlement Management Software mod. It's much more polished, but there's a host of information that the mod provides that the official Vault Tec console doesn't.

There's one hint in the mod as to why settlements are unhappy. It will tell you how many beds the game counts as "sheltered," and often it's a lot less than it should be. Unfortunately, there's no way to tell which beds are screwed up, or why. About your only choice is to build beds one at a time and check the status each time you build a new bed. I've never had the patience to do that.
I rebuilt Oberland as a massive multilevel concrete box. The sleeping level have no windows. I had a devil of a time getting assignments to stick - they say okay, then wander off - so I suspect I have something systematically wrong or glitched.

I saw a thing on YouTube about getting extra settlers. Completing the rogue robots sometimes includes new settlers, and if the robots don't kill them, you can persuade them to go to one of your settlements without a Charisma population level check. I'm not sure how well it is working since my numbers seem to vary each time I check, but generally my Sanctuary Hills runs around thirty. That's pretty cool. Unfortunately, without a mod I can neither scrap nor reroof those houses without functional roofs. As much time as the unemployed spend banging on houses one would think they would make some repairs or at least dispose of the bodies.
 

GusSmed

Senior member
Feb 11, 2003
403
2
81
A lot of those hole-ridden roofs in Sanctuary count as "Sheltered," since the initial settlement tutorial quest requires 5 sheltered beds, and you can fulfill that just by putting beds in the partially ruined houses.

Even so, I always build a wooden dormitory on one of the clearable foundations in Sanctuary, just because the shabby houses are beneath my standards. There's a huge amount of wood in Sanctuary, so it's not a big deal, and there's a good amount of XP for a starting character for doing this.

I do play with the Scrap Dead Things mod. My settlers may be fine with living with 200 year old skeletons and feral ghoul corpses, but I'm not.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
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I've been looking to pick this back up and run through it again, but I'm wondering if a mod exists to make raids more interesting. Thus far, I can't find anything that pertains to raids other than a simple "auto win raids if you don't show up" which is pretty dumb. I was hoping to see a mod that would add aspects like a battle took place if you didn't show up to help defend rather than just give you a clear "you lose". I had a settlement completely walled off and littered with missile turrets everywhere that would obliterate raiding parties within two seconds of me showing up, yet everything would be damaged if I didn't make an appearance. I would also like to see dynamic spawn points for the smarter raiders like Synths, Super Mutants, and Raiders - as in they don't just spawn in all clumped up and instead will come at your base from all sides. Or even have some other enemies mixed in rather than just a full array of Charred Ghouls - toss in some Deathclaws or Radscorpions into the mix.

Anything like that exist?
I wonder if this depends on difficulty level or something like that. Usually my attackers come in from at least three places, although at one of the farms (those malcontents in the northwest, I forget their name) eleven gunners spawned in one big group in range of maybe a dozen missile launchers. Between the starting and ending signals was about three seconds. Ditto at the Nuka World Red Rocket, although with about two dozen launchers. I had to use Jet to get in a couple shots for credit. I found bodies spread over maybe a hundred yard radius. Maybe more. I only counted up to ten bodies, including two that landed on top of things, before I got bored of checking dozens of bloody little chunks.

Sometimes the rocket launchers backfire on me, such as when enemies spawn well inside the perimeter. And once I got the all clear and went out to loot the bodies - and then some more raiders spawned right on top of me. Cue rockets. Lots and lots of rockets. I was down to teens in health, although my power armor was less trashed than I'd have thought. Ada was knocked on her shiny metal ass and had both arms blown off. Later they spontaneously regrew, which was weird. Something similar happened at Coastal Cottage with the deathclaw. Damn it, I'm not running from you, I'm running from the rockets!
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
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Anybody know how to switch from the Railroad back to the Minutemen to finish the core game? Synths won't progress until I continue working with Father, and I don't want to do that.
 

heymrdj

Diamond Member
May 28, 2007
3,999
63
91
Anybody know how to switch from the Railroad back to the Minutemen to finish the core game? Synths won't progress until I continue working with Father, and I don't want to do that.

The only way to do it is to anger the institute. If you do that the railroads plan is stuck , but a sanctuary minuteman has an idea...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,655
597
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I wonder if this depends on difficulty level or something like that.

I doubt it because I've been playing on the hardest difficulty since day 1 and only a few settlements had enemies scattered around during settlement raids. Spectacle Island, Starlight, and the Lighthouse I believe were the only ones where enemies came from different sites. Every other settlement I recall fast traveling in and immediately seeing a clump of bodies go flying from the 60+ rockets immediately making contact the moment my game loaded.

Alternatively, I was nearby Jamaica Plains when it was raided and decided to just walk there instead of fast travel, and the moment I was close enough for enemies to spawn in, I saw a gigantic explosion on the horizon and bodies flying through the sky. Three different Synth body parts landed right next to me and I wasn't even within sight of the settlement with all settings turned to max.
 

bguile

Senior member
Nov 30, 2011
529
51
91
So I just picked up the season pass, and gonna get back into Fallout 4. I was wondering though, did they ever 'fix' Preston Garvey? Does he still spam endless radiant quests if you get within 10 feet of him? I never messed around with the minutemen story line because of him.
 

GusSmed

Senior member
Feb 11, 2003
403
2
81
There's no official change to Preston's behavior. Your choices are:

* Get a mod that alters it. There are a few of those.
* Put Preston someplace you don't often visit, like the Castle.
* Ignore the open quests. If you've got 3 open Minutemen quests, he won't give you any more. Some appear to have a time limit, but if you didn't really want the quest in the first place, why worry that it's failed? There are no consequences.
* Go full Raider in Nuka World, once you get to it (level 20+). Preston hates you forever if you raid the Commonwealth.

IMHO the only serious issue with Preston is that once you've met the requirements for Taking Independence, he won't talk to you about other things. Which is a problem, because he gives you that quest way too early, and if you've left him someplace, you can't pick him up again as a companion. Since his perk is actually pretty darned good for the early game, I prefer to take him as soon as he'll join and keep him until I get the perk. Then I'll ditch him for someone like Piper.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,081
136
So I just picked up the season pass, and gonna get back into Fallout 4. I was wondering though, did they ever 'fix' Preston Garvey? Does he still spam endless radiant quests if you get within 10 feet of him? I never messed around with the minutemen story line because of him.

Not officially. But theres mods to fix him.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,655
597
126
Yea, it's the PC version. There's a mod for pretty much anything you don't like about the game.
 

heymrdj

Diamond Member
May 28, 2007
3,999
63
91
After the update for mods, it pretty much doesn't matter what platform you can get the mods on Xbox one or PC. not sure about PlayStation yet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,828
184
106
So... I just found out that silencers for shotguns actually exist. I avoided putting one on my character's shotgun because it was "unrealistic."

It costs about $1500 in real life though. I'd buy it.
 

GusSmed

Senior member
Feb 11, 2003
403
2
81
So... I just found out that silencers for shotguns actually exist. I avoided putting one on my character's shotgun because it was "unrealistic."
This was how I played as well. A shotgun silencer sounded ridiculous to me.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
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I doubt it because I've been playing on the hardest difficulty since day 1 and only a few settlements had enemies scattered around during settlement raids. Spectacle Island, Starlight, and the Lighthouse I believe were the only ones where enemies came from different sites. Every other settlement I recall fast traveling in and immediately seeing a clump of bodies go flying from the 60+ rockets immediately making contact the moment my game loaded.

Alternatively, I was nearby Jamaica Plains when it was raided and decided to just walk there instead of fast travel, and the moment I was close enough for enemies to spawn in, I saw a gigantic explosion on the horizon and bodies flying through the sky. Three different Synth body parts landed right next to me and I wasn't even within sight of the settlement with all settings turned to max.
Weird. 90+% of the time, my attackers come from two to three directions. Often in discrete waves, though it's difficult to tell since often one group spawns inside the settlement. Other than those though, it's easily to tell since they die in groups widely spaced around the perimeter.

Taffington Boathouse, attackers generally spawn in the front yard next to the porch, occasionally across the street, and always a few from beside the channel where they typically bring some blood bugs into the attack.

Sanctuary Hills, they typically attack just downstream and around the corner from the Wood Bridge, from the foot bridge (but usually spawning on the town side of the creek), and from the woods pretty much opposite the first attack, near the basement. However, lately gunners and raiders both spawn a handful inside the perimeter, on the street in front of the workbench. That is new, but it has happened twice.

Abernathy Farm they usually attack from the direction of the Red Rocket and from the woods directly opposite that, and occassionally from the extreme downhill slope. They have never spawned inside the perimeter to my knowledge. However, on a couple occasions the whole group spawned in the first locale and were absolutely massacred in place by rockets. This is new.

Red Rocket is usually attacked from across the road, from Concord, from Abernathy Farm, and from uphill toward Sanctuary, with each attack using two to three of these. Gunners only have spawned some of the attackers just inside the perimeter, on the downhill side just inside the hedge.

Tenpines Bluff has been attacked from every direction, including the bluff, but the largest group is always at what I consider the main entrance on the west side near the south end. That is where I grouped the shops, so maybe that is what attracts them.

Starlight Drivein is usually attacked from two locations, across the street to the southest and directly opposite this, down the wooded hill. This is where I have the preponderance of my attack able creations, built up around the projector building, so perhaps that draws them. But sometimes a third party of two or three attack from across the side road (toward the free range Brahmin) and occassionally some or even all the attack comes at the screen building.

Outpost Zimonja is almost always attacked from three sides at once, spread roughly evenly around the perimeter. However, the last attack featured two from the overpass, three from the radioactive pool, and six spawning directly in front of the building, inside my defenses, which is new. And one attack was only two gunners, who were massacred. No one else ever showed up, and a wide sweep showed no bodies killed before they reached me.

The Nuka World Red Rocket has only been attacked twice. Both times they massed out front, in the road, and were massacred as a group.

Sunshine Tidings is usually attacked in two waves, from the reservoir and along the dam road. Ocassionally a small group attacks from the opposite side. My shops are arranged along the dam road entrance.

The Slog is attacked from two of three sides, usually from the river (east) and along the ironworks road (south) but sometimes from the west woods in the direction of Breakheart Banks. Me being there is usually enough to bring a Forged attack on a hapless provisioner as well, and the west woods attack often brings in insects from the ravine, so those fights tend to be brutal. EDIT: The Slog just got attacked again. Four supermutants attacked from the east, straight up the steep bank, and two from the west, from the woods. The rockets also pounded the south road from the ironworks, but I was unable to find any chunks. One of the bodies I found was only present as two fist-sized chunks and I only found six bodies total, so I'm assuming there was also an attack from that way. (Also corrected original compass bearings.)

Green top Nursery is usually attacked broadly across the road toward the Slog, but sometimes with a small contingent from the road on the opposite side or from Breakheart Banks.

Coastal Cottage is usually attacked simultaneously up from the coastal road and around the south corner of the garage, but attacks have come from all four sides. All have been stopped absolutely cold due to a high concentration of missile launchers (carefully situated to block likely collateral damage) and dense groupings of heavy machine guns.

Finch Farm has been attacked from a 180 degree arc along the west and occassionally from the south, though never by humans.

Graygarden is usually attacked from the northwest, down the road, and sometimes from the west simultaneously. Couple of times the attackers all spawned down along the river road and were massacred on the road. Attacks have never come from the east or from the north down the hill.

Oberland Station is usually attacked from the west, up the steep hill, with a smaller force attacking from the south to the east of the tracks. Other times the main attack come along the tracks from the south, with smaller attacks from the east perimeter.

Kingsport Lighthouse is commonly attacked from the entire perimeter, with the strongest attack coming either at the entrance (around the trailer) or down from the north.

Croup Manor is always attacked over the entirety of the wooded perimeter, spawned at considerable distance from the manor, though occassionally there is a concentration along the driveway. This is another location where attacks are easily repelled.

Nordhagen Beach is usually attacked from across the road, along a broad front. Sometimes a smaller attack comes from the south.

County Crossing is usually attacked from the south, with a smaller attack from the east. But attacks have come from all four directions.

Egret Tours Marina is typically attacked along a broad front from the east, with attackers spawning in the parking lot well inside the perimeter. Usually a smaller attack of two or three comes in from one flank, usually toward Cutler Bend. Oddly, the Fallout wiki says attackers typically come from the north (toward the bridge) whereas I've seldom had the major attack from that sector.

Jamaica Plains is attacked from all directions, usually two at a time. Murkwater Construction Site is the same.

Spectacle Island has never been attacked. Nor has the Castle.

Warwick Homestead has not been attacked in this play through, since I had to ally with them as Institute. Earlier, as a Minuteman settlement, it was regularly attacked up the road and from the sea directly in front of the main building. Often, super mutants spawned well inside the perimeter, rendering rocket launchers problematic.

Hangman's Alley can only be attacked through two narrow, highly armed passages. Nonetheless, if I do not respond, it typically takes heavy damage. Usually attacks come from both at once, with one or two wondering about by the river to be hunted down.

Typically, the attacking force numbers ten to (usually) eleven. Occassionally there are only eight or nine, and once there were but two. If I do not respond, the settlements successfully defend roughly 3/4 of the time. When they do take damage it usually comes from the top down and is often widespread. Most attacks have two forces, one major and one minor, but three forces are almost as common and attacks by one large group represent maybe 20%. I usually use the weapon storage exploit, so my defenses are stronger and my settlements larger than they could otherwise be. I run no mods. Originally I played on survival, but the update forced me one down. (I am not giving up fast travel or the console; I use God mode to carry back all my loot in one trip, and no clipping when I get stuck in the landscaping.)

I will be interested to see how others' experiences differ.
 
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werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
126
This was how I played as well. A shotgun silencer sounded ridiculous to me.
At some level, it is ridiculous, the kind of thing one creates just to see if it can be done. Functionally, even buckshot will have an extremely short useful window if forced subsonic. And a shotgun not only becomes much less lethal, but fully impossible to conceal, so for clandestine killing it is useless. But for target shooting indoors it might be useful, as shotguns are incredibly loud. Also, a subsonic slug would be over an ounce of lead - still very deadly. Another use might be trench warfare; by silencing the blast and leaving the pellets supersonic, the signature would be much less easily located and the shooter could forego hearing protection. But as far as I know (without any research) it is mostly a curiosity. And yeah, I don't use them either. Just too absurd, even for a game where a rifle uses common ammo but does 50% more damage to one sort of being.
 

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,828
184
106
This was how I played as well. A shotgun silencer sounded ridiculous to me.

But as far as I know (without any research) it is mostly a curiosity. And yeah, I don't use them either. Just too absurd, even for a game where a rifle uses common ammo but does 50% more damage to one sort of being.

You two need to google this stat: Silencerco Salvo 12.

From the real life stats, the silencer appears to bring noise down to levels comparable to non-9mm rifles/pistols. The shape even looks like it's out of Fallout 4.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
126
You two need to google this stat: Silencerco Salvo 12.

From the real life stats, the silencer appears to bring noise down to levels comparable to non-9mm rifles/pistols. The shape even looks like it's out of Fallout 4.
I've seen various shotgun silencers over the years. The question would be what purpose is served? You'll still need hearing protection for recreational shooting. Beyond that, the sheer size is self-defeating for stealth. For suppressor level reductions, perhaps it makes sense for a few sporting (target) applications by reducing noise to less objectionable pressures. For silencer level reductions, seems to me that the shotgun aspect is negated, leaving a high recoil, very high caliber rifle. Not saying that doesn't have its applications, just saying that they appear to me to be very limited and for military or survival, even more so.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
126
Weird. 90+% of the time, my attackers come from two to three directions. Often in discrete waves, though it's difficult to tell since often one group spawns inside the settlement. Other than those though, it's easily to tell since they die in groups widely spaced around the perimeter.

Taffington Boathouse, attackers generally spawn in the front yard next to the porch, occasionally across the street, and always a few from beside the channel where they typically bring some blood bugs into the attack.

Sanctuary Hills, they typically attack just downstream and around the corner from the Wood Bridge, from the foot bridge (but usually spawning on the town side of the creek), and from the woods pretty much opposite the first attack, near the basement. However, lately gunners and raiders both spawn a handful inside the perimeter, on the street in front of the workbench. That is new, but it has happened twice.

Abernathy Farm they usually attack from the direction of the Red Rocket and from the woods directly opposite that, and occassionally from the extreme downhill slope. They have never spawned inside the perimeter to my knowledge. However, on a couple occasions the whole group spawned in the first locale and were absolutely massacred in place by rockets. This is new.

Red Rocket is usually attacked from across the road, from Concord, from Abernathy Farm, and from uphill toward Sanctuary, with each attack using two to three of these. Gunners only have spawned some of the attackers just inside the perimeter, on the downhill side just inside the hedge.

Tenpines Bluff has been attacked from every direction, including the bluff, but the largest group is always at what I consider the main entrance on the west side near the south end. That is where I grouped the shops, so maybe that is what attracts them.

Starlight Drivein is usually attacked from two locations, across the street to the southest and directly opposite this, down the wooded hill. This is where I have the preponderance of my attack able creations, built up around the projector building, so perhaps that draws them. But sometimes a third party of two or three attack from across the side road (toward the free range Brahmin) and occassionally some or even all the attack comes at the screen building.

Outpost Zimonja is almost always attacked from three sides at once, spread roughly evenly around the perimeter. However, the last attack featured two from the overpass, three from the radioactive pool, and six spawning directly in front of the building, inside my defenses, which is new. And one attack was only two gunners, who were massacred. No one else ever showed up, and a wide sweep showed no bodies killed before they reached me.

The Nuka World Red Rocket has only been attacked twice. Both times they massed out front, in the road, and were massacred as a group.

Sunshine Tidings is usually attacked in two waves, from the reservoir and along the dam road. Ocassionally a small group attacks from the opposite side. My shops are arranged along the dam road entrance.

The Slog is attacked from two of three sides, usually from the river (east) and along the ironworks road (south) but sometimes from the west woods in the direction of Breakheart Banks. Me being there is usually enough to bring a Forged attack on a hapless provisioner as well, and the west woods attack often brings in insects from the ravine, so those fights tend to be brutal. EDIT: The Slog just got attacked again. Four supermutants attacked from the east, straight up the steep bank, and two from the west, from the woods. The rockets also pounded the south road from the ironworks, but I was unable to find any chunks. One of the bodies I found was only present as two fist-sized chunks and I only found six bodies total, so I'm assuming there was also an attack from that way. (Also corrected original compass bearings.)

Green top Nursery is usually attacked broadly across the road toward the Slog, but sometimes with a small contingent from the road on the opposite side or from Breakheart Banks.

Coastal Cottage is usually attacked simultaneously up from the coastal road and around the south corner of the garage, but attacks have come from all four sides. All have been stopped absolutely cold due to a high concentration of missile launchers (carefully situated to block likely collateral damage) and dense groupings of heavy machine guns.

Finch Farm has been attacked from a 180 degree arc along the west and occassionally from the south, though never by humans.

Graygarden is usually attacked from the northwest, down the road, and sometimes from the west simultaneously. Couple of times the attackers all spawned down along the river road and were massacred on the road. Attacks have never come from the east or from the north down the hill.

Oberland Station is usually attacked from the west, up the steep hill, with a smaller force attacking from the south to the east of the tracks. Other times the main attack come along the tracks from the south, with smaller attacks from the east perimeter.

Kingsport Lighthouse is commonly attacked from the entire perimeter, with the strongest attack coming either at the entrance (around the trailer) or down from the north.

Croup Manor is always attacked over the entirety of the wooded perimeter, spawned at considerable distance from the manor, though occassionally there is a concentration along the driveway. This is another location where attacks are easily repelled.

Nordhagen Beach is usually attacked from across the road, along a broad front. Sometimes a smaller attack comes from the south.

County Crossing is usually attacked from the south, with a smaller attack from the east. But attacks have come from all four directions.

Egret Tours Marina is typically attacked along a broad front from the east, with attackers spawning in the parking lot well inside the perimeter. Usually a smaller attack of two or three comes in from one flank, usually toward Cutler Bend. Oddly, the Fallout wiki says attackers typically come from the north (toward the bridge) whereas I've seldom had the major attack from that sector.

Jamaica Plains is attacked from all directions, usually two at a time. Murkwater Construction Site is the same.

Spectacle Island has never been attacked. Nor has the Castle.

Warwick Homestead has not been attacked in this play through, since I had to ally with them as Institute. Earlier, as a Minuteman settlement, it was regularly attacked up the road and from the sea directly in front of the main building. Often, super mutants spawned well inside the perimeter, rendering rocket launchers problematic.

Hangman's Alley can only be attacked through two narrow, highly armed passages. Nonetheless, if I do not respond, it typically takes heavy damage. Usually attacks come from both at once, with one or two wondering about by the river to be hunted down.

Typically, the attacking force numbers ten to (usually) eleven. Occassionally there are only eight or nine, and once there were but two. If I do not respond, the settlements successfully defend roughly 3/4 of the time. When they do take damage it usually comes from the top down and is often widespread. Most attacks have two forces, one major and one minor, but three forces are almost as common and attacks by one large group represent maybe 20%. I usually use the weapon storage exploit, so my defenses are stronger and my settlements larger than they could otherwise be. I run no mods. Originally I played on survival, but the update forced me one down. (I am not giving up fast travel or the console; I use God mode to carry back all my loot in one trip, and no clipping when I get stuck in the landscaping.)

I will be interested to see how others' experiences differ.
Dang, I typed all this and got crickets. Nobody has anything to compare?