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Base building keeps me off Fallout 4

T

TerryLee81

Member
I hope this doesn't become a trend. I don't want extensive base building in traditional RPGs.

To be able to buy a house like in Skyrim is ok (didn't play the housing DLC unfortunately, so can't comment on that), but if it's too extensive and consumes too much time it gets annoying. Hated it in WoW.

Coincidentally I saw this while browsing the Steam store, seems like it's something to attract people:

steamu7jsh.jpg
 
Good to know that I can ignore it. I hope it stays that way for most RPGs.

I've been watching lots of streams and damn do they invest a lot of time in base building.
 
Aside from a handful of arbitrary assignments at the start, all of the base building is optional.


That said, it may be worth trying to build something for yourself somewhere (fuck those random settlers). I've had quite a bit of fun building something atop Red Rocket.

The whole mechanic is extremely robust, obtuse and unintuitive though. I can't believe how poorly implemented it is, feels like an afterthought in some aspects.
 
Well, you CAN ignore the shitty base building but one of the major Minutemen quests (if you side with them) needs you to have like five or something towards the end.
 
Not sure why it'd keep you off of it, seeing as it's completely optional and irrelevant to the story thread.

I barely dabble in it throughout my playthrough.
 
SJRB said:
The whole mechanic is extremely robust, obtuse and unintuitive though. I can't believe how poorly implemented it is, feels like an afterthought in some aspects.
Click to expand...

Clearly tacked on to fill a bulletpoint to ride the wave of a current trend.

Thankfully it's completely optional and doesn't affect the game.
 
But it's not optional? All the questlines I've gotten far enough in have asked me to clear out a settlement and get it up to spec for people to move in (Minutemen multiple times). I mean, it doesn't force you to build a skyscraper or anything, but it's still intrusive and kills the flow of a lot of quests.
 
Kuraudo said:
But it's not optional? All the questlines I've gotten far enough in have asked me to clear out a settlement and get it up to spec for people to move in (Minutemen multiple times). I mean, it doesn't force you to build a skyscraper or anything, but it's still intrusive and kills the flow of a lot of quests.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure those are Radiant AI filler quests.
 
Kuraudo said:
But it's not optional? All the questlines I've gotten far enough in have asked me to clear out a settlement and get it up to spec for people to move in (Minutemen multiple times). I mean, it doesn't force you to build a skyscraper or anything, but it's still intrusive and kills the flow of a lot of quests.
Click to expand...

most of those are just go there and kill things and set up a beacon and that's it.
 
Kuraudo said:
But it's not optional? All the questlines I've gotten far enough in have asked me to clear out a settlement and get it up to spec for people to move in (Minutemen multiple times). I mean, it doesn't force you to build a skyscraper or anything, but it's still intrusive and kills the flow of a lot of quests.
Click to expand...

Don't keep doing minutemen quests then? Pretty sure they all revolve around building and protecting settlements.
 
Kuraudo said:
But it's not optional? All the questlines I've gotten far enough in have asked me to clear out a settlement and get it up to spec for people to move in (Minutemen multiple times). I mean, it doesn't force you to build a skyscraper or anything, but it's still intrusive and kills the flow of a lot of quests.
Click to expand...

There's a mod to prevent ever getting those quests. They are pointless and add nothing. Setting up a radio recruitment tower isn't exactly base building.
 
While it's true that you can ignore it, it's so completely half-assed and broken I'm not sure why they even bothered adding it. They should've just let you buy settlements for the Minutemen to protect, not build. Doing their missions could lower the cost of them. Anything else would've been better than what we got.

I also agree with you OP in that I hope it doesn't become a trend.
 
50 hours in and I've only built two bases, the tutorial one and another at some gas station as my storage and companion send-to location so yeah, using that as an excuse is ridiculous as you can spend a few minutes on it and be done. Sure a few missions require a generator or radio tower but that's another terrible excuse as that takes not even a minute in most cases.
 
I kinda wish there was more to it and that it tied into their Fallout Shelter app. It's so half-baked and janky.

At bare minimum you should do the following steps:

  1. Have a main base. Sanctuary, the first settlement, will do just fine.
  2. Talk to Preston occasionally to get some quests. They usually amount to "Go to X and kill a bunch of Y". This will get you a settlement.
  3. Talk to one of the default people in the settlement and assign them to a Trade Route (L1/LB if using a controller). Send them to your main settlement. This turns the settlement's workbench into a magic teleporting treasure chest that lets you access all your inventory.
  4. Optional: To get more people in your bases go into Workshop mode and build a basic generator and a recruitment beacon. Don't forget to attach them together with a wire! (Triangle/Y)

You want to do this because it's handy to have all your workbenches connected, and because you can build weapon mods at every one of your bases and stash your junk.

It's not REALLY needed to recruit anyone if all you want is a workbench, but there are benefits for building some basic stuff. Like if you build a water purifier, you get free purified water in your workbench. If you build a shop, you get caps deposited into your workbench. If you build crops, you can get free adhesive, which is super handy for weapon and power armor mods. Corn, Mutfruit, and Tatos plus Purified Water is the formula for Vegetable Starch (craft it at a cooking station).

And then you fall down the rabbit hole of wanting to assign people to work the crops, but the interface for that really sucks, so don't bother. It doesn't matter. All the crops are good for is for you to pick them after they respawn so you can make more Vegetable Starch.
 
It's optional, so it's not a big deal.

I'm not huge into the settlement stuff but I thought it was a pretty neat addition to the game. I didn't make anything crazy but I had a good time making a bunker for my power armor.
 
really pisses me off how a few quests require it (at least one main quest iirc). not the worst thing in the world but I feel like the game intended the player to spend about a quarter of the time dicking around with the mechanic
 
It's a pointless feature but I find myself loading the game up just to mess around with it long after I've stopped caring about whatever actual content they've created.
 
I stopped playing it once it became mandatory in order to complete one of the main story missions. Like I seriously can't proceed without finding 20 pieces of copper or whatever and playing with a bunch of wires? I find it very dumb but hopefully I'll manage the energy to get through it sooner rather than later.
 
You don't even have to do it. I didn't touch a single outpost after the 20 hour mark in my 80 hours with the game.

I like the concept, but the execution is terrible.
 
dnmt said:
I stopped playing it once it became mandatory in order to complete one of the main story missions. Like I seriously can't proceed without finding 20 pieces of copper or whatever and playing with a bunch of wires? I find it very dumb but hopefully I'll manage the energy to get through it sooner rather than later.
Click to expand...

What main story mission requires base building? I don't think I've seen it yet and I'm pretty far in.
 
Jito said:
What main story mission requires base building? I don't think I've seen it yet and I'm pretty far in.
Click to expand...

There's a main story quest that requires you to build a particular piece of equipment that can't be described without spoilers. Have you gotten the courser chip? If not then you're not there yet.
 
Jito said:
What main story mission requires base building? I don't think I've seen it yet and I'm pretty far in.
Click to expand...

I think I know what mission he's talking about, spoilers for about the halfway point in the main quest line.
When you are trying to gain entry to the Institute, if you decide to go to the Minutemen for help, you have to find stuff to build a couple different machines in Sanctuary to construct the teleporter.

EDIT: Beaten.
 
I don't mind the base building. Has a "Sims" charm to it, which I like it.

The dialogue and choice responses killed the game for me.
 
If a base building trend starts then ill be there with you saying how it sucks. But, in Fallout 4, it's not bad and optional. Personally, ive stuck with developing only one settlement and cant be bothered with any others. Im not punished for it, either.
 
Smokey_Run said:
I think I know what mission he's talking about, spoilers for about the halfway point in the main quest line.
When you are trying to gain entry to the Institute, if you decide to go to the Minutemen for help, you have to find stuff to build a couple different machines in Sanctuary to construct the teleporter.

EDIT: Beaten.
Click to expand...

It's not exclusive to the
Minitutemen
every faction forces you to do that.
 
I ignored base building at first in Fallout 4, but then I started doing some and build a treehouse, shit was awesome. After that I ignored most of Fallout 4. Maybe will pick it up again soon.
 
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