Actually Challenging Wasteland and Settlements

[JohannaW]

So hello! I just thought this would be the best place to outline a few ideas I've had to make fallout 4 a tad bit more interesting, immersive, and challenging.

 

So first off, I'll cover my ideas as they relate to settlements, a good deal of this is from playing old school mods such as 28 days and a half for Oblivion (or the real one RTS) and generally messing around:

 

-First thing and I feel like this is drastically missing from the game is to make settlers kill able as the current system has almost no consequences and is just plain silly. Also, goodbye sanctuary settlers.

-Make settler assignment objects that have an AI package that will only let them wander so far from it, and be able to assign it to settlers. Perhaps multiple areas allowed per settler, such as living, guard post, and farming areas. It's kinda silly how they just do whatever they want.

-Scale able settler equipment depending on level, and various settler classes such as former raider, wastelander, trader, etc. that bring their own flavor and equipment

-Scavenger settlers that actually scavenge

-Make settlement raiding actually a thing (this will tie into the warband idea later on). Right now it's a complete joke.

-Traps that aren't stupid, maybe?

 

And now for my next bit, the idea of warbands. In 28 days and a half for Oblivion zombie hordes are created and tracked statistically, and when encountered by the player spawn according to the variables. A lengthy system to create, but not necessarily incredibly difficult. Right now factions are essentially props that do not interact with you of their own accord, and random encounters in the wasteland are just that: Random. They add a small level of immersion but very little difficulty to the game. Warbands would be each faction acting of it's own will in accordance to "random" encounters in the wasteland that are controlled by warband's parties location as compared to the player, and settlement raiding. I'm not expecting cell level changes so much as roving parties of mutants, raiders, gunners, dogs, etc.

Here are some points in reference to that.

 

-It would allow dynamic raids that are actually cool as you can encounter them on the way to your settlement

-Inter-faction raiding parties

-Making the game much more challenging in terms of settlements (killing scavengers and actually raiding) and encountering patrols

-Being able to take out the headquarters of the faction when it comes to raiders and supermutants to elimate the threat

-Their troop counts take time to replenish, so ambushing their patrols would make your life easier.

 

So those are my ideas to bring a little life to the wasteland and a little blood to my white picket fence houses.

 

[vTemporalZEROv]

I don't um.. Ok I am just asking passively, are you new to FO4 or FO4 mods?

[Jeffman12]

So, I'll do my best to address some of the things point by point.

 

-Unnamed settlers can die, the game is lenient about letting them escape death, but say they fail to avoid a falling molotov before getting KO'd, they're done for.

-Settlers need recreational activities to be happy, not just figuratively, but mechanically as well. If you want a specific area to be used for recreation, you'll need to basically rebuild the furniture/utilities arrangement from the ground up.

-Until scripting is possible, you'll need to rely on preset AI pathing to provide destination info to your settlers.

-There's a mod to provide a broader mix of Settler attire and starter equipment with a lot of presets to "tell a particular story" about your settlers. I believe anything more falls under the heavily script reliant category. (The mod)

-How would a scavenger be more scavengy? In RTS you could designate scrap piles, but that's still you flagging something for removal individually.

-Traps such as? This might be something people can make in the interim, this might warrant a separate thread.

 

So, warbands. Lots of good ideas, but again script reliant. I love the idea of persistent attack forces, as opposed to strictly random encounters.

I really like the idea in terms of, say, Mount & Blade, where I just dropped off a contingent of my warband to defend a fortress, only to discover a much larger and overwhelming force is inbound on said fortress, and I can either return to make a stand or attempt to chase them off with my much smaller contingent.

-Inter-faction raids: What would this accomplish, exactly? I could see attacking a stronghold location while an enemy does so to maximize distractions, but that still seems very incidental for what would likely be a suicide run for the attackers.

-Elaborate on the effects of taking out HQ's? I don't think that should ever really be a permanent measure. Realistically, another threat would arise to take it's place so long as a measure wasn't taken to prevent that (But for simplicity's sake, let's say that faction "regrows" to keep things somewhat interesting)

-I have no comment on the last point, that's perfectly fine IMO.

 

I don't um.. Ok I am just asking passively, are you new to FO4 or FO4 mods?

Not helpful in the least.