Supply Line Fix

[MisterRection]

So I was going through the forums when I came across this thread, and while it seems pretty cool, there was one thing that it seemed to overlook that I've been looking for in a mod for a while now: linked supply lines. When you set up a supply line from say... Sanctuary to Starlight Drive-In; if you go to Starlight Drive-In and then set up another supply line going to The Castle, why can't the provisioner carry supplies from The Castle to Starlight Drive-In, and then hand them over to the provisioner heading to Sanctuary (or vice-versa)? Nope. Have to set-up an additional supply line directly from Sanctuary to The Castle in order to make use of the items stored there.

If there's 30 settlements you can set-up (before mods), that means that in order to have each settlement with a supply line running to every other settlement you'd need a total of 900 (I think the math's right on that) provisioners. It just seems really wasteful to have all these settlers running to/from all these out of the way places in order to keep them properly supplied. Right now it's like:
"Hey Bob, heading out to Sanctuary now?"
"Sure am, Jim. What's up?"
"Well Preston's over at The Castle, and he gave me this important intelligence that he needs to get to the General, but I'm assigned to stop here at Starlight."
"I'm going to Sanctuary. I could give the General that intel."
"Sorry man, but because there's no direct supply line, now the General can't get the intel and everybody's gonna die."
"Wow, sucks to be them. Oh well..."

I'd like to see this so you could pool food & water resources too. You'd still have to manage the beds, defense, and happiness for each settlement (as well as making sure that you have enough food and water for ALL your settlements), but this would cut down SO much on HAVING to have crops and water filtration at each place. It would still be a good idea to have some of them at each settlement, in case your provisioners get ambushed along the way (which is something else that I'd love to see in this mod). You could even have them be like the caravans that the game already has so you could have a couple guards go with the provisioner to protect him. You could equip them with armor and weapons just like you can any other settler currently (1 provisioner + 2 guards x 30 settlements still comes out to 90 settlers you'd need to assign to this, but that beats the hell out of 900).

I know that this would mean some major changes to the way that settlements work, so this probably wouldn't be something you could do until the CK comes out (if even then), but I think it would add a ton more realism and immersion to the game. I know this is more for empire building than individual settlements, but think about it: wouldn't you be a lot less aggravated when Preston asks you to help some rinky-dink settlement with only 4 or 5 people there, if they were the ones that provided ALL the mutfruit, or purified drinking water to ALL your settlements? Anyway, just an idea from a guy who knows squat about modding, but really appreciates all the work that you mod authors do. Thanks and keep up the good work.

Edited March 9, 2016 by MisterRection

[Gruffydd]

I'm pretty sure it works more like how you're wanting it to work, and not how you're describing it.

All I have to do is connect a new settlement to any other settlement in my network, and suddenly I have full access to the materials, as well as food stored in other settlements for planting.

 

I have noticed, though, that it only seems to be the materials that are shared, and not items that haven't been scrapped down yet.

So, for instance, if I have 10 steel and a microscope stashed in settlement A, link settlement B to A, then link settlement C to B, in settlement C I can access the 10 steel, but not the microscope.

 

I'm not sure if this is fully accurate, but it's how it seems to be working in my game.

[chillshock]

Works like "any somehow connected settlement can use all the supplies"

 

The only thing that needs some fixing, imho, is the spectacle island route. Even my robots (was a hint somewhere) keep... disappearing?

[kevkiev]

I'm pretty sure it works more like how you're wanting it to work, and not how you're describing it.

All I have to do is connect a new settlement to any other settlement in my network, and suddenly I have full access to the materials, as well as food stored in other settlements for planting.

 

I have noticed, though, that it only seems to be the materials that are shared, and not items that haven't been scrapped down yet.

So, for instance, if I have 10 steel and a microscope stashed in settlement A, link settlement B to A, then link settlement C to B, in settlement C I can access the 10 steel, but not the microscope.

 

I'm not sure if this is fully accurate, but it's how it seems to be working in my game.

 

Yes, how the OP describes wanting it to work is pretty much how it works already (including pooling of food and water resources). Although you can't see everything in a particular workshop's inventory, but only the items that were actually stored there, you have access to all workshop's inventories for construction and resource (food/water) purposes. Pretty sure that even, using your example, if you used up that 10 steel while building something at settlement C, you'd still be able to use the microscope to continue building at settlement C. But you couldn't actually transfer it into your own inventory form any workshop except settlement A's (or one of settlement A's workbenches).

[MisterRection]

I have noticed, though, that it only seems to be the materials that are shared, and not items that haven't been scrapped down yet.

So, for instance, if I have 10 steel and a microscope stashed in settlement A, link settlement B to A, then link settlement C to B, in settlement C I can access the 10 steel, but not the microscope.

OK, that's possible. I'll buy that. If nothing else I'm not fixing to start up a game from scratch and run around setting up 3 settlements just to verify it, so we'll just roll with that. lol

Oh hey and I just noticed that was Gruffy who answered me! I got your poster mod, mate. Thanks.

 

But no, Kev - I may have been wrong on how the supply lines worked as far as the rest, but they're definitely not sharing food and water like that. And that's easy to check: just add an extra water pump to a random settlement and then go back to somewhere like Greygarden (if you haven't built it way up) and delete the water pump there. It says 0 water even though you JUST built an extra one at another settlement. You may be able to access the crops they've picked and the purified water that they've made in the workbench, but that doesn't do the settlers at another settlement any good. I want to be able to set up one or two settlements that take care of the water for ALL the settlements, and 2 or 3 settlements that take care of the food for ALL of the settlements. The Castle is supposed to be a military fort. I got soldiers there. They need to be carrying guns, not a freaking garden hoe. Synths go busting in there and the next thing you know Preston's crying like a baby because somebody shot his tato plants. lol

[kevkiev]

But no, Kev - I may have been wrong on how the supply lines worked as far as the rest, but they're definitely not sharing food and water like that. And that's easy to check: just add an extra water pump to a random settlement and then go back to somewhere like Greygarden (if you haven't built it way up) and delete the water pump there. It says 0 water even though you JUST built an extra one at another settlement. You may be able to access the crops they've picked and the purified water that they've made in the workbench, but that doesn't do the settlers at another settlement any good. I want to be able to set up one or two settlements that take care of the water for ALL the settlements, and 2 or 3 settlements that take care of the food for ALL of the settlements. The Castle is supposed to be a military fort. I got soldiers there. They need to be carrying guns, not a freaking garden hoe. Synths go busting in there and the next thing you know Preston's crying like a baby because somebody shot his tato plants. lol

 

 

Well, all my settlements are self-sufficient so I've never tried it myself. But if food and water aren't being shared, then it's a bug in the game, it's certainly supposed to work like that.

 

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Supply_line

 

(Excess food/water only. A settlement isn't supposed to share anything except resources above what it needs to serve it's own population.) I've read posts on the webz where some people have experienced this bug, but for the most part (from what I read when I first started playing) resources-sharing seems to work. Apparently, your food/water stats turn green if they're being supplied by somewhere else.

 

But, again, I've never had to use that aspect of supply lines.