An idea for revamped settlement progression and radiant quests

[K21Nova]

I don't know about you guys, but I think the whole "go help/establish settlement X" -system could have been designed a bit better. Especially for Survival mode, where fast travel is disabled. It's a bit frustrating to get a quest from Preston to go help a settlement all the way on the other side of the map, even with mods that make him give out those quests a lot less. It's also quite confusing why a settlement gives you a quest to help a settlement, or establish a settlement, all the way, again, on the other side of the map. Add to that the radiant quests that make no sense; settlers asking for the protagonist to take care of a group of bad guys miles and miles away because they're "disrupting trading" or some such, when there's plenty of other threats much closer to home.

 

For me, it would make much more sense, and feel a lot nicer, if the Minutemen spread out from Sanctuary a bit more linearly, as their influence grows, and settlements and denizens of the Commonwealth become more aware of their presence. So, here are the outlines of an idea for a mod that I had...

 

Commonwealth citizens actually physically approach the Sole Survivor (or Preston, if he's in the settlement), instead of "sending word" to Preston via ambiguous means

What this would mean, is that when you arrive in a settlement, or spend time in one, there would be a "random encounter" that could proc, much like attacks, where a person (or several) would approach the settlement and start hanging around in it, approaching you if you get close enough to them. If they'd spot Preston, they could go to him instead of the protagonist, at least in the beginning, as it would be more fitting that he's a bit more well known at that point. Said citizen(s) would then either speak to Preston, thus activating the "I've gotten word from a settlement" -mode (more on that later) for him, or speak to you directly, at which point you could agree to help them, or not. Applicable affinity modifiers, of course. The chance for this random encounter could depend on how recently you've gotten such requests, as well as the settlements themselves - some settlements would be in more dire need than others.

 

The citizens wouldn't travel across half the map to ask for help

Basically, while word of the Minutemen would definitely reach all corners of the map via Travis and DC Radio, the people in need couldn't just trek miles and miles to try and find the Sole Survivor. Rather, they'd come from the settlements closest to the one you're in currently. If said settlements would be empty to begin with, there could be a wandering NPC or a family who would have been on the road and would have been looking for a place to settle down in, and would have their sights set on an empty settlement, and they would then beseech the protagonist to help them liberate, and set up shop in said settlement. The point here is, though, that if you'd gotten to, say, Sunshine Tidings, you wouldn't then get a quest to go help Nordhagen Beach or Murkwater Construction Site or something like that, but rather the progression would be more linear.

 

Or, you could, of course, decide to get those (not-so-linear) settlements yourself, before such quests appear.

 

Preston would approach you with the information he'd gotten, but give you the option to decline instead of automatically sending you on a quest

When Preston would be in the "word from a settlement" -mode, you would be given a few different options, instead of having to automatically take the quest;

 

1. Piss off Preston. No time to help anyone right now.

A straight up decline of the quest. The quest (to liberate a settlement) would then go on a cooldown or back into rotation, but it'd be available later for sure. This would be a huge affinity hit with Preston, dependent on in how dire need of help the people would be in.

 

2. Remind me later, OK?

This would also give a hit in affinity for Preston, although not as much as the first option, and depending on the need (based on settlements), Preston would either push the issue, or, he'd agree to remind you of it later. Next day, a few days, something like that, depending on the situation of the people in need. There would have to be some kind of a smart way of queuing these (re)quests if there are several pending.

 

3. [Persuade] Look, Preston, we just can't help them right now. I'm sorry.

The difficulty of the persuasion check would depend on the settlement (completely arbitrary, up to the mod creator) and their needs. If it would fail, Preston would just push for a Yes/No -answer, so either 1. or 4., where 1. obviously gives the affinity hit, but failing the test itself wouldn't affect affinity.

 

4. Of course, Preston. We're the Minutemen, after all!

This would just accept the quest.

 

Similar options might also appear in the conversation when a person approaches the Sole Survivor instead of Preston (later in the game, would make sense), if Preston is the active companion, so when they're turned down, Preston may step in, and so on.

 

Also, Preston could possibly contact you via radio, if he's in a different settlement. There are ham radios. Maybe a portable Minuteman version? Plenty of options, of course, to enable/disable such things. But, then you could have the conversation with Preston, just with Preston being on the radio (add some radio distortion to his voice, maybe?)

 

Radiant quest logic would be revamped

No more would the settlers send you on a mission to the other side of the map for bogus reasons, but rather, if possible within the game mechanics and code, the radiant quests would actually be logical to the settlements where they're given at; the missions would take place in locations near to the settlement.

 

---

 

I have some coding experience, but not with FO4 mods, so I have no idea about the hurdles one would have to jump to create something like this. Some of it might not even be possible, at all. I know there are mods that curb the radiant quests (or disable them completely), but this would be much more of an "overhaul" of the settlement progression system, with radiant quest logic improved as a bonus. As the influence of the Minutemen would spread, starting from Sanctuary, and as you'd establish more settlements, so would the pleas for help start coming in from those areas. Instead of Preston just being some damn psychic who gets telepathic messages from the other side of the map and sends you on your way. Also, having the people actually appear in the settlements would be a really nice touch.

 

Dialogue could be pulled from existing options or just be silent. VO wouldn't necessarily have to match the text options.

 

Also, if it could be made compatible with stuff like We Are the Minutemen, all the better. Anyways, those are just a few thoughts on this idea. I'm 500 hours into this amazing game, with yet another (currently level 70ish) character going strong. Probably going to start one more at some point, and having a mod like this would be so very, very nice. I've been toying around with learning mods for FO4 myself, since, as I said, I have some experience with code, but I know enough to know that it would be a bit of a chore to learn enough to make a working mod, let alone something as complex as what I've outlined. Still, maybe someone more capable gets some ideas from this.