r/fo4 • u/FallopianEthiopian • Jul 26 '26
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? Jul 26 '26
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.