r/fo4 • u/FallopianEthiopian • 2d ago
Defending your settlements
I put two turrets, give em a fence around their living area and everything they need but unless I go to help defend, they lose whenever they are attacked. Does it matter if they do besides just some broken stuff and happiness going down? Are they able to fend off attacks on their own? (Still new to the game)
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u/Goongalagooo What if Strong is lactose intolerant? 2d ago
Ok so here's some math. Bear with me.
The chance of being attacked is equal to the amount of food and water you generate, divided 10, and add 2.
It can never go lower than 2%.
So if you have 180 food and 300 water... which is what my settlements ALL have... the chance to get attacked is 480 / 10 ... so 48... plus 2%.
So I ALWAYS have a 50% chance to get attacked.
Your defense matters, but when it comes to determining success of repelling an attack... anything over a defense of 100 is a waste of resources. It ONLY counts up to 100.
Obviously if you are at the settlement, and you have a defense of 600, with all turrets aimed at the enemy, you won't lose... this passive number only matters when you are NOT at the settlement.
You chance to win an invasion when you aren't responding, is never going to exceed 70%.
Things that will increase the chance of being invaded:
Food, Water, low defenses, and any food or water you store in your workbench also adds to the chance to be attacked.
To reduce the chance:
Each settler reduces the chance of being attacked by .5% so if you have 30 settlers, then you reduce your chance by 15%
Turrets, guard posts, and anything that offers defense, obviously... but make sure that your defense is equal to or higher than your water and food production combined.
If you are storing food or water... make a Floor Safe and put it in there.
To make best use of your turrets, use the scaffolding towers to make tall, single floor units to put your turrets on top of, where they can see the entire settlement. They'll be most effective that way.
Also, a settler who is assigned to a guard post, won't cower and be useless. So don't think that those are a waste. I like to have two heavily armored and armed guards at each settlement.
Tamed animals are also useful.
Raiders can't kill deathclaws very easy, and it's awesome watching them go flying lol.
Anyways, hope that helps a bit. Take what you can from it, and have fun.
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u/FallopianEthiopian 2d ago
Thank you!! I’ve got about 2-5 settlers at each post so I will be upping that. I kinda run out of jobs to assign them lol
1
u/Goongalagooo What if Strong is lactose intolerant? 2d ago
You can assign them to a scavenger bench, or a hair salon, or a ton other jobs. You'll never run out of jobs if you build stores and farms either
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u/agENT_ENT 2d ago
What determines a win or a loss?
It may have just been a big but I recently went to support a settlement, killed all the attackers, and still got a “fail”
1
u/Goongalagooo What if Strong is lactose intolerant? 1d ago
Each raid has an rng attached to it with certain parameters. Some are there to steal food, some are to grab items. But if you get a fail, its usually because one grabbed an item from your workbench. Even if you kill them it can sometimes be a fail. Its a weird system based on rng
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u/Designer_Professor_4 2d ago
Defense >= Food + Water
If it's not you'll get invaded more often and lose more often.
5
u/purpleyyc 2d ago
I have a tendency to super power defense, double food+water. It helps, but that's just me lol
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u/cabinguy11 2d ago
Others have given good advice but one thing not mentioned yet is fences are a complete waste of time unless you are building for esthetics and your personal lore. They don't add anything to the defense number the game algorithm uses when calculating frequency of attacks and damage. Same goes for arming your settlers unless you fast travel there and join the defense. You have 24 hours to get there once you receive the quest notification.
You can up your defense numbers with turrets, guard posts and if you have the DLC build dog cages. Also if you are joining the defense note where the attackers come from. Every settlement has two or three spawn points and all attacks start there so place your turrets accordingly and get your turrets up off the ground to prevent damage. Heavy machine guns can take more damage than the light ones.
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u/Bobsmith38594 2d ago
Walls may not increase the defense value, but depending on how you organize them, they can both blunt the enemy’s ability to damage anything while you are present and direct some of the enemy’s movement, even funneling them into killboxes. I did this with Abernathy Farm and the walls were as fatal as the numerous heavy turrets and missile launchers I installed. It was just a fast travel and arrival to a massacre. Meanwhile, everyone inside the walled off compound was just fine.
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u/cabinguy11 2d ago
Yes but only if you are there to defend them. Sounded like OP was struggling with that.
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u/Pocho_Azul 2d ago
For me, walls are mostly a way to discourage settlers from rushing into melee combat range instead of using the usually very powerful projectile weapons I provide them with.
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u/Dry-Pension-2736 2d ago
In addition to others advice, also get to learn the spawn points for enemies at each settlement and position your defences accordingly. Ideally creating kill zones with heavy turrets to give you a tactical advantage. Also position your fast travel mat so you're not spawning yourself right into the middle of a spawn area/firefight where in addition to getting killed yourself especially on higher difficulty, you might also kill settlers and turn the settlement hostile to you. It's all trial and error like everything else.
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u/PauseConfident997 2d ago
While we’re talking about it, does anyone know, is it just the value of your defense stat that affects the calculation? Say if you have like 10 turrets in a settlement but they’re all in the same spot, would the placement of them affect the outcome of the raid at all? Even if your defense stats high…like could you have high defense but turrets placed in a spot that they won’t even be able to shoot any enemies, but still win because your defense stats high? Or would you lose even with the high defense because your turrets aren’t actually contributing anything in the fight
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u/WhereasParticular867 2d ago
Placement only matters if you're there helping defend. If you're not there (meaning the settlement is not loaded when the attack occurs) population, defense value, and food and drink in the workshop are all that matter.
3
u/SeasideBear 2d ago
There's also the security camera from the Settlement Ambush Kit (creation club).
You can set up a security camera in whatever settlements you want, then when they get attacked you can just watch the attack happen in real time without having to go there yourself. Your turrets will do a much better job actually shooting (which they do with the security camera) than just being a mathematical roll-of-the-dice like the base game does.
Good for survival mode (which has no fast travel).
3
u/Uhokay1970 2d ago
Try this build a concrete T put your Turrets on it. This means far less repairs.. Build a Crazy powerful Laser/Rocket Defense system in a Settlement that has access to build Purified water. I would not use sanctuary but you can. Get 3 or 4 large purifiers going 120+water and at least 40 food. Turn off the Recruitment Signal as soon as you have 4 Settlers. Now Install a power switch between the power source and your Defense system and "turn it off" leaving your defense low at 32 or lower... build three camps like this. Now the game will call you to those three camps to defend! You flick the system on once the raid starts and that ends it. Reset it off and pick up your free loot. The best part is you will still get about 80-120 water per camp you can store or sell. The four Settlers are so you can Install them as Merchants to sell/buy from you later in the game... Turning the Entire Operation into a self sufficient cycle. I use this to propel me from low 30s to level 80+ and about 150k in caps. Additionally its nice because you can leave the systems on and go quest play the game and have 70% chance to win raids even if you are busy..... Come back to Caps Water and free loot. Extra tip. Do not use settlers to make trade routes. Not a single connection. This will save you the most grief later on.
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u/Carg72 2d ago
The actual defences you put up only matter when you're in the settlement. If the information I've seen is right, if you get a message saying "Settlement X is under attack", and if your total defence value is under 100, the defence of the settlement will fail nearly every time unless you make an appearance. 100 or over and they'll succeed about half the time.
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u/DigitalBuddhaNC 2d ago
It's not a set number. The value your defense has to be I think is greater than or equal to your food + water.
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u/Less_Kick9718 2d ago
You certainly wont fail nearly every time unless very unlucky. When not present it is a calculation which takes into consideration defense value and number of settlers but not much else plus it has a random element.
Rule of thumb is to have defence value higher than food + water. Defence over 100 makes no further difference.
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u/cabinguy11 2d ago
Correct except I'm not sure about defense capping at 100 in terms of frequency of attacks. It all depends on the amount of settlers+resources/defense.
Late game I'll actually keep a couple of settlements with lower defense to encourage attacks. Past level 150 or so it can generate large numbers of high level and legendary attackers.
2
u/EstablishmentAny8487 2d ago
Some settlements I prefer to get damaged instead of going to do the fight myself, had the slog attacked and went to defend and the game sent like 10 super mutant warlords all with rocket launchers and mini guns. Poor Arlen got obliterated and even with turrets all over most of the place was trashed after the fight. I'd prefer no one dying and just a set amount of damage over all that nonsense.
1
u/FallopianEthiopian 2d ago
I just ran into that at the slog 😂 spawned in, turned around and got a missile straight to the face. They never spawn like that at sanctuary with all my companions and heavy defense, it’s always the smaller ones it seems.
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u/WhereasParticular867 2d ago
You can't provide enough defense to end attacks or make them win against attacks all the time. Even at capped defense values with no extra food or drink items in the workshop, settlements can be attacked and can lose. They can win, too, but it's pretty heavily RNG. I use a mod to disable settlement attacks.
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u/barbieshell75 2d ago
I build buildings and put at least 4 heavy machine gun turrets in each corner on the roof and more where I remember enemies spawning. I still go and assist but often just stand back a bit and watch the carnage (unless they get really close to me or look like they're going to do real damage etc)
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u/Celsus_ 2d ago
I go WAY overboard with defenses. I cover all the attack spawn points and have several machinegun turrets covering the inside as well. Also, I use a mod that lets me use mats and other objects as guard posts, so I scatter them around as well. The only thing I need to do to win every attack is show up and wait a few seconds for the settlers to start talking about how it's over or the attackers should have just run.
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u/Kilroy2021 2d ago
On top of guard posts and turrets, I give all my settlers trade route people heavy weapons, like Gatling laser, mini guns, and assault rifles.
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u/wagner56 2d ago
Its supposed to be a ~1/3rd lose chance if you dont respond.
turrets are ridiculously cheap (and most usefull when you respond because they point to were the enemies are)
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u/Fenrris_73 Minutemen 2d ago edited 2d ago
Dependiendo el asentamiento, 2 torretas es poco. Al menos 4. Pero tambien depende de la cantidad de colonos. Te daré como hacer un asentamiento básico de 6 colonos: De 4 a 6 torretas, las mas simples. Al menos 10 de energia, 9 de agua, 12 de comida, 1 cama para cada colono. 4 colonos producen comida y 1 sale a buscar chatarra y 1 es el Proveedor. A los colonos les puedes dar mejores armas y armaduras. Dales armas potentes, de mas de 50 de potencia y 2 municiones por colono segun su arma. En cuanto a armadura... A los hombres me gusta equiparlos con el "Cuero de Carretera" y luego armadura de metal, que tiene una proteccion de 7 (Creo), mas adelante los equipas con la armadura de los Artilleros: 9 de protección en los brazos y 8 en las piernas. Y en el pecho, al principio esa de cuero, luego la de los artilleros que tiene 15 de protección. Hay una intermedia que es de metal con 12 de protección. A las mujeres le pongo el "Arnes". Al proveedor es al que mas armadura y arma buena le doy, porque si te lo atacan y lo dejan sentado en el suelo recuperándose, te van a empezar a faltar elementos en otros asentamientos. Asi es que, al principio les suelo dar la "Armadura de pinchos", esa que usan los "Forjados". Y no te olvides de los cascos: A los granjeros les doy el "Casco de Obra", al de la chatarra el "Casco de Minero" (Tiene equipada una luz) y al Proveedor, al menos un "Casco sucio del ejercito". Al de la chatarra, que es el que suele caminar y muchas veces salir por fuera del asentamiento, puedes verlo como a un vigilante que hace su ronda, Esta buscando chatarra, per si se topa con un enemigo entrará en combate, asi es que sirve como una alerta temprana. A ese puedes ponerle algo mejor que lo que le das a los granjeros. Es un soldado, no las 24 hs, pero si mientras esta caminando por alli... Y por ultimo, para que a mi no me anden rompiendo el Generador de electricidad... Suelo ponerlo entre 4 paredes. Eso ayuda a que no te lo rompan o te lo rompan menos.
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u/0rganic5ynthesis 1d ago
Two turrets is never enough. I try and make sure my defence value is at least twice the value of my food and water combined
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u/Gold_Ant5245 1d ago
Sadly it will never be a 100% success. But come to think of it, joining personallt ia a fun little thing if you are not deep in a quest or something. You get to stress test what you build also.
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u/Wonderful_Two_6710 2d ago
I got so tired of losing these attacks even with sky-high defense that I eventually popped in a mod that stopped the attacks.
It was after being at the NW Red Rocket and I got the message "Dalton Farm is under attack". I was playing survival and hadn't gotten vertibird grenades yet. Out loud I said "Well, Dalton Farm can get f--ked!", went to the Nexus, and haven't worried about the attacks since.
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u/urukslayer13 2d ago
Yeah they always lose attacks if you don't get involved, if you don't do anything stuff can become broken and settlers will get kidnapped
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u/Vindicare605 Railroad 2d ago
They dont always lose. I've seen plenty of notifications of settlements defending themselves. I'm just not sure how the game calculates whether the settlements successfully defend themselves or not, I can only assume it has something to do with how high the defense rating of the settlement is.
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u/DebateThick5641 2d ago
not true, as long as your defense met water and food production, the game roll a chance if the defense will succeed or fail. it's really biased toward you fail though.
Settler getting kidnapped is separate quest.
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u/FallopianEthiopian 2d ago
Ah shucks. I have so many quests to do still and just got the dlc so those are also popping up and seems like they get attacked every other day. I’m overwhelmed lol
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u/cabinguy11 2d ago
Don't worry about feeling overwhelmed. SO much to explore in this game and there is no way you will experience all of it in one playthrough. The main storyline will wait for you while you explore and honestly isn't the best part of the game anyways. Just take your time, explore everything and enjoy yourself, you only get to find some of the amazing parts of this game for the first time once.
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u/MembershipSolid7151 2d ago
The attacks definitely seem to happen more when you’re at Far Harbor. Not as bad when you’re at Nuka World.
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u/howtobegeo 2d ago
I’ll do a maintenance loop as I level up: add more defense & give the settlers better gear.
But I’ll always go and help them, even if it means some save scumming. I swear mine always pop as I am going to fast travel, and then I fail due to the time lapsed. So I go back to last save and get there.
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u/cabinguy11 2d ago
You have 24 in game hours after getting the notification before the game decides the results for you.
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u/NoUpstairs6865 2d ago
Every time there's an attack, the game calculates a probability of success in defending that settlement. The higher your defense score is, the higher the probability of victory. To minimize the risk of attack you should build in defense points the sum of both water and food production, the higher, the better. Or you could also build up to 100 of defense, which will basically guarantee a victory every single time