Mod request - adding timers to settlement construction

[oldgregg4369]

First off let me say that I am not familiar with the modding process and I know this could be quite a feat of programming, but I have an idea of how it could work. The ultimate goal is that settlement objects would be assigned a build time (i.e. shack wall requires 1 in-game hour of labor, maybe shown with a progress bar) which would be fulfilled as a job for settlers. Rather though than completely reworking the build system and having items slowly âappearâ, maybe you could simply build as normal, but have a button that marks the âstartâ and âfinishâ of a job (something like the place anywhere mod, where pressing an action button turns it on and off), then assign settlers to reduce the total amount of time the job as a whole will take.

 

For example, you want to build a house consisting of 4 floor pieces (30 min each), 8 wall pieces (1 hour each), and 4 ceiling pieces (30 min each) as well as a water pump (5 hours). You open then build menu and press the action button to designate the start of the job, then place the house and pump as normal, then press the button to designate the job end. The, you can assign settlers (capable of 1 hour of labor, or 1 labor unit per hour). 1 settler would require 13 hours to complete all the tasks mentioned above, or you could assign two settlers which would take 6.5 hours, and so on. Or, you could assign one settler to the house and another settler to the pump as separate jobs so the pump would be done in 5 hours and the house in 8. Ideally the items would be non-functional until the progress bar was filled at the end of the job, but if that isnât possible they could function right from the start, but would still occupy a settler detracting from other resources like defense, food, stores, etc. It might not seem like much, but thinking of a new survival character and only having a settler or two, and trying to balance the workforce between building your settlement vs producing resources would be pretty intriguing. Later in the game building high-tech items like turrets, fusion generators, industrial water pumps, etc. would require days of build time (based on their true complexity) which you might want to reduce by using additional settlers on the job. Also, after raids, the repair process should use this timer as well (in addition to the parts required), although maybe not quite as much time (50%?) making defense really feel important.

 

In all it seems that treating build jobs as a whole is the way to go. All you need is a system which tells the game what items are grouped together, and then being able to assign it as a job. Maybe Iâm wrong. Iâm interested to hear from the modding community about the feasibility of this and any suggestions to alter/improve. This is the final mod I feel is really missing from the game, so letâs find someone willing to make this happen!

 

Let me also say that I play on Xbox, so if you decide to undertake this idea, please make it available on Xbox! I wouldnât be able to go on knowing that my idea was out there and I wasnât able to use it!

[SolidSnakeMan]

This indeed would be cool. There is a mod that adds aspects of this such as sim settlements and industrial revolution.