Taming the Commonwealth: Settlement Nightmare Mode

[KnightDuty]

Without the fear of loss, expansion, and progression... we're just playing animal crossing w/guns.

The commonwealth is a horrible place, filled with horrible people, doing horrible things in the name of survival. Without food/shelter/water, people get desperate... and desperation is a dangerous thing.

This mod makes it so a settlement is a VERY hard thing to grow. Each new settlement you decide to take on is a brand new risk that requires your full attention until it's self sufficient.

MOD FEATURES

RAIDS

Raids happen early + often from day one. A settlement's hidden statistics determine the method and chance of raid. See the 'math' section for hidden settlement statistics and how this is calculated.

Raid frequency is determined by the size/difficulty of the preceding raid. If you had a wave of a single ghoul, you may be raided again the very same day. But if your previous raid was of 20 super-mutants, your recovery period may be several weeks.

OWNERSHIP OF SETTLEMENTS

Raids can result in your settlement being captured by the enemy.

• If hostiles exist on settlement than friendlies, you lose ownership.
• Once you've lost ownership, you immediately lose any benefits the settlement provided. Trade lines are CUT and everything in the camp's inventory now belongs to the enemy. You will not be able to build in your settlement.
• The only way to regain ownership is to eliminate all hostiles on the settlement.
• You CAN lose ownership to non-human hostiles (animals, ferals, etc.)
• If you leave a settlement under hostile ownership, the hostiles can grow in numbers.*
• Hostile controlled settlements may destroy your work or build new defenses (We set up a blueprint for what each enemy camp should look like and prioritize what to build/replace over time.)
• When you leave the area, one of the raiders left behind will become a 'boss'.

*Growth rate will depend on the group. Generally it'll follow a reverse exponential curve: (1 new member every in-game day up to 5. Then 1 new member every 2 in-game days up to 10. Then 1 new member every 4 in-game days up to settlement cap.) Not all enemies multiply.

 

If your settlement is captured, the enemy will either settle in, dismantle the cap, or leave depending on their goals (See raider types below).

PORTABLE WORKBENCH

A portable workbench item is a new craft-able item. By dropping and activating this in the overworld, you can claim a radius of ownership anywhere you want.

• Raids work just the same on these new areas as they do in full settlements. You have to be prepared for an enemy to take this from you right from the beginning.
• Enemy controlled Portable Workbenches will be stripped and deleted over 3 in-game days.
• Players are encouraged to bring as many companions as possible to hold these new settlements until they're sufficiently protected.
• New ownership cannot overlap an owned piece of land already owned (even your own)
• Ownership is not granted until all hostiles are cleared withing radius
• Scrapping items within ownership radius transfers items to portable workbench's inventory.

The restrictions and difficulty of setting up + establishing a new settlement should keep things balanced from a game-play/difficulty perspective. Since you and your followers count as Friendlies, you can always have at least two citizens in your settlement. You basically have to babysit a settlement until it's self sustaining.

CARAVAN ATTACKS

Your supply line has a chance to be attacked, so make sure you give your provisioner armor, weapon, and plenty of ammo. (If we can figure out how to assign guards, that's cool too).

RAIDER TYPES

I don't want there to be an 'optimum configuration' town build. We don't want to restrict how players structure their settlements or doing things like saying "I kept my population/defense/whatever low on purpose to avoid X".

We DO want the types of raider who are attacking to make sense, though.

The various types should make each raid feel different, and players will have to worry about different types of people. In the beginning Animals + Slavers will be a bigger threat. Towards the end, Super Mutants, Pillagers, and Rival Factions will be more of an issue.

See the Variables section for definitions on how each is calculated. The specific numbers will need to be playtested and balanced through trial and error... but here's the outline:

ANIMALS

These are animals looking to either nest or eat. Large numbers scare them away, so they attack smaller settlements.

• Drawn by a low HUMAN CAPITAL
• THREAT LEVEL ignored (They don't understand armor/weapons)
• Won't build new structures
• Will increase population over time.

SLAVERS

The want your citizens as slaves. They're always looking for easy scores.

• Drawn by high HUMAN CAPITAL
• Deterred by THREAT LEVEL
• Will transform into slaver camp if they take over
• Will increase population over time
• Depending on SDK flexibility, I'd love for them to disarm & capture settlers without killing them.
• Radio beacon amplifies chances of raid

PILLAGERS

These bandits want your camp for parts. The more you have to scrap, the more likely they attack.

• Drawn by high SETTLEMENT CAP VALUE.
• Your THREAT LEVEL will determines the maximum size of their army.
• Will destroy settlement over 2 in-game weeks.
• Population will remain in-line with size of what's left of settlement
• When settlement is fully stripped, they leave.
• Radio beacon amplifies chances of raid

RIVAL FACTIONS

Brotherhood, Gunners, and synths can come for two reasons. They either want your land for themselves, or they see you as a threat and want to diminish your strength.

• Drawn by high SETTLEMENT POTENTIAL
• Drawn by high THREAT LEVEL
• No deterrent
• Will transform settlement into their own over time
• Population will increase over time.
• Radio beacon amplifies chances of raid

SUPER MUTANTS

They want to eat you. Or kidnap you. Or both.

• Drawn by Human Capital
• Ignores Threat Level
• Size of raid is random (1+)

FERAL GHOULS

Sound travels in the commonwealth. If you make a lot of noise you'll grab the attention of a horde of ghouls!

• Drawn by HUMAN CAPITAL + THREAT LEVEL
• Likely to attack during a nuclear storm.
• Healed by radiation.
• Will take over camp but doesn't change anything or spend resources.
• Will grow in population.

CIVILIZATION MODE

An alternate-start style game mode that starts you as a new character in a random pre-cleared settlement with your default settlers.

The other settlements are marked on your map and already controlled by other factions/groups. You build up your initial settlement, defend it, and branch out/take-over the others (if you want)

VARIABLES/MATH

FRIENDLIES

This is a number used in calculating when 'ownership' of a territory is given to enemy:

(settlers) + (followers assigned to area) + (player character) + (active followers) - (provisioners)

• Settlers is the number seen on workshop screen.
• Player character only counts if they are in area at time.
• Active followers must allow for any mod that allows more than one at a time. When a follower is 'down' they are removed from this equation.
• Provisioners are anybody from that settlement you assigned to a trade route/supply line.

Friendlies needs to be recalculated every time a unit enters/exits settlement or dies.

SETTLEMENT CAP VALUE

This is used to determine the net worth of your entire camp in caps.

(value of player character's inventory) + (scrap value of construction) + (value of items on premises) + (value of items on settlers)

HUMAN CAPITAL

The number of people in your base.

(settlers) + (followers assigned to area) + (player character) + (active followers) - (provisioners)

• Settlers is the number seen on workshop screen.
• Player character only counts if they are in area at time.
• Active followers must allow for any mod that allows more than one at a time. When a follower is 'down' they are removed from this equation.
• Provisioners are anybody from that settlement you assigned to a trade route/supply line.

Now that I look at it, this is actually the same equation as Friendlies but used for a different purpose. Should probably be merged.

THREAT LEVEL

This is how tough the camp will be to overtake.

(defense rating of settlement) + (combined armor rating of settlers) + (combined active weapon DPS of settlers)

• Defense rating needs a high multiplier in order to balance correctly.
• DPS and Armor probably need multipliers too to balance each other out. Needs to be playtested

SETTLEMENT POTENTIAL

This is how attractive a settlement is to live in/take over.

(Water) + (electricity) + (Defense Rating) + (number of crafting stations)

[OSUBUCKEYE]

I would love to see more attacks on my settlement. Once they are barely built up I never get attacked. This needs to be more realistic in many aspects and I believe a mod like this could bring a whole new level of entertainment

[gyashaa]

I love this idea. Hopefully someone with a lot of know-how can make it happen :)

[wilkisama]

I personally love the idea, but had a few other things in mind. I still want some type of extreme attacks that can either happen randomly or can be turned on as a steady thing (possibly in game settings, added in right under difficulty)

 

Two main reasons why, I want to test the ridiculously high defense at my settlement and I just want some action. I already play on very hard n survival difficulty n realistically have no challenging groups of enemies anymore.

 

Basically I want an invasion beyond what most people would find logical to ask for. Gimme a group of mirelurk kings n queens, or some assaltrons with sentry bots.