Add a Non-Settlers workshop storage option at the HQ

[Scientision]

Part of my core game-play loop is drop off junk and gear to scrap off at a workbench, making it available for my use at all of my settlements. But there doesn't seem to be an option to do that at the HQ. Along with the lack of non-lab workshop makes the HQ kind of unsuitable as a functional base to work out of.
If anything the HQ should have more and better options (maybe requiring upgrades). I could see an extension on the existing storage system, just with some additional scripting.

Workbench - Functions like the HQ was a normal settlement, preferably still getting the dump all junk option.
Auto Scrap - Scraps gear/items down and places them in workshop storage (Maybe have upgrades like the labs have that give it scrapper perks)
Consignment - Items placed in this storage would be converted over time into caps. Basically imaging that there was a virtual merchant that buys what they can every time their caps refresh (Upgrades like Big spender perks, investment/larger caps pool)
Arm Staff/Settlers - Gear placed in this box are normalized and given to HQ security, then settlers. (as in x prices of combat armor, or x laser pistol/rifles, rather than tracking individual items/mods)

 

[SarahAda]

So as you build later rooms, some of them such as the armor and weapons labs will include crafting benches in the room plan. these crafting benches are special in 2 ways: 1) they draw from both normal caravan junk and from SS2 virtual storage which is normally inaccessible to the player and 2) they use the rooms upgrade level instead of the players perk list to fulfill crafting requirements. this should let you craft things you normally couldn't out of supplies you normally couldn't.

additionally, the HQ already includes a "storage" system, permitting you to keep junk, supplies, weapons, etc in special shared containers that are accessible from access points all over the HQ. the first one i found is the small wall safe to the right of the left hand door at the very front entry room. if you fast travel to the HQ, it should be immediately to your right. clicking on this, or any of the storage access points spread around the HQ, will configure that access point to one of the storage containers, and you can keep all your cool stuff in those. i don't use the HQ for storage, my self, because i usually have a large room of my own with storage at either sanctuary, since it's close to the start, or Jamaica plains since it's close to HQ.

so some of the things you are looking for are already in the mod.

there has been a lot of talk on these forums about arms and armor for settlers, and SS2 has already demonstrated the ability to equip settlers according to building plans, so i would not be surprised to see a project to arm settlers pop up in the near future at the HQ, perhaps chapter 3 content?

now to the downsides:

you're never going to see a proper settlement workbench container at HQ, because there already is one, and it's being used to manage the department energy and HQ needs virtual resources. this is normally inaccessible to the player, but if you have something like IDEK logistics you can peak into this container and see the virtual resources stored there and why it's not really visible. i THINK the storage system i talk about above covers most of the need for this, but i donno about "store all junk" like a workbench. i usually just dump junk at whatever settlement i fast travel to, or Jamaica Plains if i jump to the HQ, since it's closest.

Scrapping weapons and armor automatically for components is something the community as a whole has worked on for years, and it's generally believed to not be possible. the engine is involved in special black magic ways when the player uses a workbench to scrap things, and those black magic ways are really not accessible to the script engine in the same way. the BEST modders have been able to do is the various junk scrapping machine mods that tear down simple scrap into components, where there is a vanilla script to read the "breakdown recipe" that is available to the papyrus vm as a single record, but those explicitly don't work on weapons and armor that use the much more complex method to walk the add-ons and scrap them too.

i really like the idea of consignment, but i suspect it's going to run into the same "and then a miracle happens" black magic engine tech that scrapping has run into. the way value is determined has always been a little squidgy in ES games, and Fallout 3+ has inherited that weirdness. maybe this is doable, there are value properties all over the records, and any delta could be chalked up to the HQ's salesmen not being as good as the player, but i donno. fortunately, if your settlement network is building at a normal rate, by the time you reach HQ you should have enough surplus in taxes that it shouldn't matter (by that metric i mean it's never mattered to me in my play throughs).

A final thought: most of this is based upon speculation and belief. especially the stuff about what C3 might hold. i'm just a normal sucker playing the game, not a inside girl or mod dev. your guess is literally as good as mine. i'm basing this on what has been demonstrated in my personal experience or discussed by other posters on this forum. YMMV.