Base building is a new mechanic that Bethesda has introduced into Fallout 4, and players will need to prepare themselves for the long arduous task of keeping their settlements happy. We’ve created this guide to help you build a better base, and make sure you understand all the basics surrounding base building in Bethesda’s latest open-world RPG.
Maintaining a Settlement
You already know that to start a settlement you’ll need to find the Workshop, or Workbench, that is located within the area. Once you’ve found the Workshop, and interacted with it, you’ll then be able to freely enter the building phase from any point in the settlement.
Beds
Beds allow your settlers to sleep and regain their strength. This is an important aspect when trying to keep your settlement growing. Make sure you have enough beds in the settlement for all your settlers, otherwise you’ll end up with some unhappy members.
Radio Beacon
The Radio Beacon is one of the most important parts of a settlement, and should be one of the first things you created when you start a new base. This item, when powered, allows a signal to be sent out to the surrounding wasteland. This will attract new settlers, which will allow you to grow your settlement.
Settlers
The amount of settlers you can have depends on two very important things; the amount of Workbenches you have in the area, as well as your Charisma. You are allowed ten settlers for every Workbench you have. This means that you can automatically have 11 settlers, 12 including yourself, in your first settlement, if you haven’t changed your Charisma from the 1 point that you were freely given upon character creation.
Assign Workers
Another important aspect of base building is making sure you have workers assigned to everything. This is extremely important because, your guard posts, and plants won’t take care of themselves. To assign a worker you’ll need to open up your building menu, and then locate the person you want to Assign. Once you locate them, choose the COMMAND option, then walk to the thing you want to assign them to and click the ASSIGN button. Now that worker will focus more on that particular thing than anything else. Remember to assign workers to your defenses, food, water, and other items to keep your settlement running smoothly.
Defenses
Defenses are an important part of keeping your settlements safe. There are several different types of defenses like Traps, Guard Posts, and Turrets. We suggest setting up a few guard posts around each MAIN entrance of your settlement. For example, we placed a guard post near the bridge leading into Sanctuary Hills. This is a vital route, and you’ll want to make sure it is blocked from any negative traffic. You’ll also want to set up some traps along the perimeter of the settlement, as well as plop down a few turrets into the high attack probability areas.
Those are the basics for base building. Just remember to keep an eye on your settlement’s happiness, and to check often to make sure your settlements aren’t under attack from any raider groups.
Looking for more Fallout 4 content? Check out our guide for all the Vault-Boy Bobbleheads, or start your magazine collection with our Perk Magazine locations guide.
