I realized I haven't opened my big mouth in here yet.
I've had so much trouble with the settlement numbers going berserk every so often, from crops to beds to storage, that I automate everything. Add to that the excruciating wait for any "super" NPCs to wander in, so I've resorted to a lot of cheating. I load up the settlements with junk of all kinds, which means tons when the "trot while encumbered" perk is available - I also walk everywhere. I use the console to boost the power generator a thousand, use or build a water hand pump and set them to produce 100+ food and water, and many settlers I juice their stats like mad. Beds will still vanish periodically, but that's the only radroach in the mix so I'll live. It means I periodically have to visit a settlement though, including Nuka Wreck and Fah Habah. My gig is saving the Commonwealth from the ass hats making life miserable for the poor slobs just trying to eke out a living, so I join all the factions and do their main quests before throwing down that first settlement beacon to summon the AS'M salesdude. I'm not in the Fallout "writing sucks, everything sucks but SS2" bandwagon.
most city plans seem to favour the rickety ramshackle approach with buildings and suspended bridges that look like they might fall down at any moment.
I've been using the RotC city plans almost exclusively, haven't taken the time to peek at the MegaPack - with 160 plans?! - and I'll have to say they're something else. I'm also not a wannabe city planner, so the only plots I place by hand are at Starlight Drive-in. I haven't liked the city plans for it. And Sanctuary is absolutely not an SS2 settlement, I use "Do Your Damn Job, Codsworth" for it, and it's remote enough it should have faired as well as Concord and Lexington. So far the Triangle of Death has only CTD'd on me once or twice.
I take my hat off to those city planners, but the work runs from imaginative and amazing to crackers, and parts of them, I wonder how they hold together.