Fallout – How to make totally self-sufficient Fallout 4 settlements without fast travel

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The upcoming overhauled Survival Mode in Fallout 4 is reported to disable fast travel (this report was linked to by Bethesda).

This got me thinking about whether it's possible to have a network of self-sufficient settlements without fast travel. It sounds like a worthy challenge.

My first Fallout 4 character had a large network of settlements and occasionally one would be attacked – even when the Defence rating was higher than Food + Water. With fast travel I could easily "warp" to the settlement and wipe out the attackers.

With my second character I never used fast travel and avoided settling up even one populated settlement. Without fast travel I couldn't see how I'll be able to traverse across the map in time to "save" the settlement from attack, and could see my entire gameplay involving trekking from settlement to settlement dealing with raiding parties.

So – is it possible to create properly self-sufficient settlements which remain undamaged and happy – even if I never visit them after the original setup?

Best Answer

Patch 1.4 has changed how defending settlements against attacks works (even if slightly). You will now receive a notification showing the result of the attack if you decide not to participate in the battle. I usually participate in all battles so I have yet to see a notification like this.

I was once stuck in the middle of a long quest when Sanctuary got attacked, I received the FAILED message (this was pre 1.4) approximately 1 hour after the attack began, so could this be the standard?

I also never use fast travel as, in my opinion, I make many more discoveries and pick up tons more valuable loot when moving along the map myself. And as I said, the only times I miss settlement battles is if I'm stuck in a long quest.

By the way, I have 14 settlements so far, all with 80+ happiness. Just make sure you're producing enough resources (food, water) and have enough beds and turrets and the settlement should grow nicely without much intervention on your part. Make sure they are all connected with Supply Lines so you can share building materials between them in case you do have to stop by and build more beds, crops etc...

Don't forget that you can check on your settlements using the PipBoy in the DATA section under WORKSHOPS I believe (although it is a little buggy at the moment, it will give you an overview of what needs fixing and where).

Settlements are a great part of the game in my opinion, they give you places across the map to dump your junk, fill up on purified water (excess water produced will end up in your workshop) and when Survival Mode gets released, you'll have save points as you will only be able to save progress when sleeping in an owned bed.

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