escorting kidnapped settlers back home >_<

[WaRi0]

So some of the radiant minutemen quests are "X settler from Settlement Y is kidnapped and taken to location Z" type quests. And when you go there, kill the bad guys and set the settler free you have two options. You can either escort them back home (which can take a while) or you can just fast travel away and let the poor settler probably die walking home. Would it have killed Bethesda to let the settler fast travel with you back home? :sad:

 

I had a settler from Warwick Homestead kidnapped and taken all the way to the middle of downtown Boston where there are raider/gunner/super mutant camps literally every 10 feet. And this poor guy was calmly walking through hell while i frantically fought a tough battle through town and ultimately the poor shlob died to a raider sniper, ugh. We need some kind of mod where the kidnapping attempts have to actually spawn a raider party and try to kidnap a settler and get mowed down by the 200 turrets surrounding the setttlement lol instead of just teleporting the settler away like you know it does. :(

Edited March 19, 2016 by WaRi0

[robhartman9]

they must have had help from the institute. All the more reason to blow them to kingdom come

[TheOriginalEvilD]

I've thought about this but never had one get killed on their way back yet. I usually fast travel back to the settlement to close the quest and that usually puts them instantly in the settlement when I get there.

[bladexdsl]

just fast travel and you can talk to whoever gave you the quest to finish it.

[AsariX]

Occasionally I escort them back. But it happens so often that their pathing messes up and they end up heading in an entirely different direction, that I don't bother too often anymore.

 

Something interesting I did notice though: one of the settlers I had to free was one I had assigned as a guard at a different settlement. I dress up my guards and provisioners in specific recognizable ways, and the settlement I got the call from didn't get any guards assigned yet, so I was a bit baffled when I found a fully equiped guard (including 1,000 rounds of 5.56 ammo) settler being the hostage. I never figured out what settlement the settler came from, but ah well.

But, this basically means that when you free a hostage, you don't get a new settler. You only get a replaced settler from another settlement.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

I have a theory that combat only happens in an area you currently have loaded. If you are not in the area the NPC can walk through all of Boston unscathed and will make it back to the destination safely. It's only when in proximity to the player character that enemy AI is in effect.

[Zetsumi_Nihilus]

I have a theory that combat only happens in an area you currently have loaded. If you are not in the area the NPC can walk through all of Boston unscathed and will make it back to the destination safely. It's only when in proximity to the player character that enemy AI is in effect.

That would be in line with how things worked in previous Bethesda games. It's something like 6-8 cells, I think, around the player.

 

Then again, I've had a lot of troubles with NPC's sent to other settlements never actually arriving and disappearing without a trace, yet still counting towards the population limit, so if you actually want the settler to make it home safely instead of taking a wrong turn and ending up in an empty testing worldspace or something, I'd take your chances escorting them instead.

[Suilebhain]

I wonder if the assumption is that they fast travel back with you, but are just a little slower showing up. I've never lost one from fast traveling.

 

Moving settlers is a different matter, though.

[Moraelin]

Unless you changed that with a mod, your settlers are protected. They can only die by your hand (or that of your companions, if the settler turns hostile) or via events, like your not rescuing them.

 

If your settlers die in transit, well, it sounds like you have some mod that makes them mortal. In which case it sounds to me like it does exactly what it's supposed to do, innit?

[Wipman]

I use alot of mods, mainly workshop stuff, HD models, textures or booth... and weapons, lots and lots of conventional weapons and WWII ones; but when i freed the Abernathy girl for 1St time (i saved when i'd get the quest) i's just fast travel to tell her pa that i'd freed the chick and somehow... she died by the road, so i'd loaded the savegame and escorted her ob foot like 1h 30" or so... and she made it home. From now on i escort all the kidnapped settlers or even characters wiz name, as the Abernathy girl, back home. But i wish that fast travel will make 'em fast travel with you too, it's a pain to escort 'em back home.