I have been doing a lot of research into if anyone has done something akin to sending a "Fire team" or "Squad" of settlers out on missions especially easy to clear areas that become a grind later. I even started modding Fallout 4 and learning what I could to try and accomplish this task. After learning a bunch but not enough. I think you'll need a new settler faction and maybe 4-5 spawn-able characters per settlement. Or I had a vision to put an assignable pedestal or chair or special Bell mechanic which made them a class like a thief for lock-picking, which would level in appropriate experience and gain perks without my micromanagement. They would eventually get the good items out of dungeons or exterior places if they leveled enough as a thief. You could then assign them to learn brawling and melee combat. As your settlement fire teams gain in levels, settlements gain the ability to defend themselves. I like the idea of a squad leader approaching the Sole Survivor to tell them they have been watching you and want to help. You scrounge up some gear for them and send them on their first mission. Send them somewhere too hard and some or all could comeback dead. If you choose to accompany them they could follow you, and you might encounter some special behemoth to make it worth your time. A few missions and that fire team is good to go, they can survive, for a while without such hand holding. On to the next settlement to set up the next squad. This sounds fun to me. Throw in some unlock-ables after enough security is obtained and you would have a nice little mini-game radiant mission style. They could be restricted to only go out during day or to only do night raids if they had obtained the right perks, AND the General noticed and told them too. If you left them alone they might go out only when all positions are filled and they have full health. They might be tagged essential and not die but just not get good stuff for a long time do to a massive failure rate. They could all "die" and just get respawned with no gear or loot back at the settlement, one behemoth and they would all die or sit or whatever maybe indefinitely getting owned if you don't reset them or be forced to go out and rescue them. You could set their order not to engage groups with more than x amount of mobs in them or be on a low gear scav mission like the OP mentioned. Or recon only where they run away from battle and "tag" patrols and groups so you can clean them up easier. This is a tough undertaking but getting settlers to group up and travel somewhere is the first step. I have a weak start with no help and a tough semester a head of me so I'll likely drop the ball without any time. I was aiming for a MyLifeAsAGeneral.esp like "My Life As A King" if I by a miracle make any headway on it I'll post as this. I would appreciate any help, or if a pro-modder knows they could accomplish this to just go for it. It sounds like an awesome project and I'll put in what I can, when I can. I see a lot of repeats with holotapes, chemistry utility and aid pills, if these are the best ways to accomplish some of what I posted on here let me know. It's a tough call vs just making fresh unique mobs at every settlement pop when you get to 10 settlers. Settlers are weird because they just spawn and it's hard to find a default one to place and add scripts too + dialogue.
