Long time fan, some comments though

[RegalBeagle]

Hey everyone.

I am a long time fan, user, of the Sim Settlement series of mods. I love the mods to death, wouldn't dream of playing Fallout 4 without them - they are essential and canon in my book. King, team, amazeballs work. BUT -

With all that being said, Sim Settlements 2 is a little disjointed I feel, at the moment. I'm having trouble finding information on some of the new systems, and anytime I think i've figured them out - i'm proven quite wrong. The Wiki is STILL barebones, and when you attempt to access much of the in-game Pip tutorial there's a lot of place-holder text - no help.

I'm managing, but that's all i'm able to do. One of the things I loved about SS1-three in 1 and Conq. was how ORGANIC it felt to the Fallout Universe. It felt like you could literally "grow" civilization back over time, over hard work and investment. Sim Settlements II is for sure a tour-de-force, a production level DLC, but I feel like it just isn't connected in the same was as SS1 was. The virtual storage is sorta strange. I don't understand it entirely (maybe i'm old), and it just leaves everything feeling like it's separate from the world. I get the reasoning behind it, but, I dunno. It's not working for me.

The settlers seem to do a lot of standing around, not much interaction with the world around them. I get that SS2 just came out, but at the same time it's been in development for quite a while. It isn't like SS at all.

TL;DR

SS2 doesn't feel as organic to the game, nor the Fallout Verse as SS1 right now. Besides that, I REALLY miss Jammer more than I thought I would (lol).

King and the Team, you guys are heroes for sure. I'm bringing this up as a fan, a concerned fan is all. Not uninstalling.

EDIT

I'd like to clarify what "organic" means to me. Organic is the feeling something is dynamic, somewhat living, piece of the game world. For instance - Guard Posts. In SS1 I could use Mix-and-Match style of building (Fallout 4 base items with SS and Homemaker mod). However, in SSII, there seems to be very little native interaction between the mod and the base game items. Auto Assign in SSI accounted for base game stuff, and I think even Homemakers stuff. SSII doesn't seem to do that. All in all, it feels like i'm playing two DIFFERENT games.

It's kinda like that intangible, hard to define thing like this; Fallout 2 was "organic" and had "soul", where as base game Fallout 4 is nearly soul-less.

None of my post has to do with any kind of script lag, before that's brought up.

 

[Bored Peon]

The virtual storage is sorta strange. I don't understand it entirely (maybe i'm old), and it just leaves everything feeling like it's separate from the world. I get the reasoning behind it, but, I dunno. It's not working for me.

SS1 had stockpiles for each plot. Plots did not upgrade until the stockpiles were full. You could force feed the stockpile to get higher level plots.

SS2 has virtual storage instead which makes a universal growth. You can also skip force feeding stockpiles by jumping up the unlocked chains with advanced plots and hi tech plots.

Virtual storage also allows a better economy system instead of just basing everything on caps, power, food, etc. For example if you do not have enough machinery plots then your settlements can run out very quickly. Oil/gas is the one people are noticing first if they are running too many generators instead of power plots.

The settlers seem to do a lot of standing around, not much interaction with the world around them.

That is most likely a backed up scripting issue. Most of us are experiencing the opposite issue of settlers not being at their jobs because they wander between their job, home, and recreation plots.

I find that the unique settlers give a much more colorful dialogue feel to settlements, especially because their comments depend upon the happiness of the settlement. Then you got some great groups like the Powell family.

 

[RegalBeagle]

SS1 had stockpiles for each plot. Plots did not upgrade until the stockpiles were full. You could force feed the stockpile to get higher level plots.

SS2 has virtual storage instead which makes a universal growth. You can also skip force feeding stockpiles by jumping up the unlocked chains with advanced plots and hi tech plots.

Virtual storage also allows a better economy system instead of just basing everything on caps, power, food, etc. For example if you do not have enough machinery plots then your settlements can run out very quickly. Oil/gas is the one people are noticing first if they are running too many generators instead of power plots.


That is most likely a backed up scripting issue. Most of us are experiencing the opposite issue of settlers not being at their jobs because they wander between their job, home, and recreation plots.

I find that the unique settlers give a much more colorful dialogue feel to settlements, especially because their comments depend upon the happiness of the settlement. Then you got some great groups like the Powell family.

Unique settlers? You mean like Carne Asada and such?

I like how you explained virtual storage. Makes me feel better. I still get the junk scavenger stuff (SS2 Indus. plot, to be clear) in inventory / workshop inventory, right? Same for farm food?

Generators eat up oil and gas? I use a lot of generators from the Homemaker mod. Also; does that mean other types use Fusion Cores? I really don't want to run through those.

I have my scripting memory vastly expanded, if I fast travel to a settlement i've made (IF, I almost never fast travel) I do a walk in to avoid scripting issues. I don't know how backed up the scripts are.

 

[Bored Peon]

I like how you explained virtual storage. Makes me feel better. I still get the junk scavenger stuff (SS2 Indus. plot, to be clear) in inventory / workshop inventory, right? Same for farm food?

Yes, Scavenger plots are the only industrial plots that have an output to your workbench. While it kinda sucks a bit, but I think it is better than the over powered SS1 system. Scavenger plots do have a pretty good output though and they ignore the vanilla scavenging limits from scavenging stations (which are useless.)

Yeah I think people focus more on the missing outputs that SS1 had that they do not realize the virtual storage is better. For example if you had construction costs on in SS1 then every time you build a plot or upgraded a plot those resources came form your workbench. Which virtual storage it comes form that first, and virtual storages can be linked via caravans, where stockpiles could not.

Generators eat up oil and gas? I use a lot of generators from the Homemaker mod. Also; does that mean other types use Fusion Cores? I really don't want to run through those.

In the game setup options you can turn on operating costs for vanilla items. It kinda makes sense, but some of those costs are really high. If you turn on the hover option it will display the costs when you build them. It is also far cheaper to make plots in some cases, like tato plants each cost 1 wood daily.

I have my scripting memory vastly expanded, if I fast travel to a settlement i've made (IF, I almost never fast travel) I do a walk in to avoid scripting issues. I don't know how backed up the scripts are.

Well the other thing to remember is your town meeting gavel, use it to gather everyone or send them back to work. That should reset any stuck scripts they may have.

 

[RegalBeagle]

Yes, Scavenger plots are the only industrial plots that have an output to your workbench. While it kinda sucks a bit, but I think it is better than the over powered SS1 system. Scavenger plots do have a pretty good output though and they ignore the vanilla scavenging limits from scavenging stations (which are useless.)

Yeah I think people focus more on the missing outputs that SS1 had that they do not realize the virtual storage is better. For example if you had construction costs on in SS1 then every time you build a plot or upgraded a plot those resources came form your workbench. Which virtual storage it comes form that first, and virtual storages can be linked via caravans, where stockpiles could not.


In the game setup options you can turn on operating costs for vanilla items. It kinda makes sense, but some of those costs are really high. If you turn on the hover option it will display the costs when you build them. It is also far cheaper to make plots in some cases, like tato plants each cost 1 wood daily.


Well the other thing to remember is your town meeting gavel, use it to gather everyone or send them back to work. That should reset any stuck scripts they may have.

I'm getting behind the virtual storage now that you've explained it and i've looked at it more.

I know there's all these new municipal plots, I kinda understand how caravan services work - but things like the communications plot - I can use that with the vanilla beacon? I can still do basic supply lines? Is there any benefit to having both?

 

[Bored Peon]

I know there's all these new municipal plots, I kinda understand how caravan services work - but things like the communications plot - I can use that with the vanilla beacon? I can still do basic supply lines? Is there any benefit to having both?

Well basically power and water was moved from industry to municipal. Makes a lot of sense considering industry is most the virtual storage.

Caravan plots have a range now, like the gang/vassal range you had in Conqueror. Which makes far more sense because these are in "your territory" and far more realistic than say a Sanctuary to Warwick route.

Yeah the communications plot gives a higher chance at recruiting and better chance of ones with better stats.

Also keep in mind that having both a caravan and communications plot in a settlement enables you to use salvage beacons. One will retrieve stuff from a container, the second will come scavenge a cleared area for bonus resources. I have not played around with the area salvage beacons yet.

 

[Irealys]

Your post highlight what is probably the biggest “overall issue” with SS2: the lack of available information. Some systems work similarly to SS1 but not all and the information given in game is most of the time very short and incomplete.

The wiki is the thing that kills me the most there. It’s controlled by the team, if they consider the full explanation of what any feature does too long to be explained in the game, the wiki would be the perfect place to put it, but they haven’t really. Most of my understanding of how plots work and interact came from reading someone else explain it on the forums. If it was to unlock some rare Easter egg plot, that would be fine, but understanding what a caravan plot does isn’t. Does it connect my virtual network, my workshop inventory, my food and water production? Any combination of it? I think I understand now having seen comments but it’s still the type of information that shouldn’t be hard to find, it should be upfront.

 

[RegalBeagle]

Your post highlight what is probably the biggest “overall issue” with SS2: the lack of available information. Some systems work similarly to SS1 but not all and the information given in game is most of the time very short and incomplete.

The wiki is the thing that kills me the most there. It’s controlled by the team, if they consider the full explanation of what any feature does too long to be explained in the game, the wiki would be the perfect place to put it, but they haven’t really. Most of my understanding of how plots work and interact came from reading someone else explain it on the forums. If it was to unlock some rare Easter egg plot, that would be fine, but understanding what a caravan plot does isn’t. Does it connect my virtual network, my workshop inventory, my food and water production? Any combination of it? I think I understand now having seen comments but it’s still the type of information that shouldn’t be hard to find, it should be upfront.

Between you and I, when the Wiki was "offline" during the launch of SSII I figured they were also using that time to get it straightened out.

Here we are, what, a month after release and Settlers still says "todo"? It's like the honey-do list your husband gives you, just ain't gonna get done hun.

 

[1ae0bfb8]

Between you and I, when the Wiki was "offline" during the launch of SSII I figured they were also using that time to get it straightened out.

Here we are, what, a month after release and Settlers still says "todo"? It's like the honey-do list your husband gives you, just ain't gonna get done hun.

one of the drawbacks of a lot of people doing this in their spare time for nothing other than kindness I suppose.

 

[Bored Peon]

Between you and I, when the Wiki was "offline" during the launch of SSII I figured they were also using that time to get it straightened out.

Here we are, what, a month after release and Settlers still says "todo"? It's like the honey-do list your husband gives you, just ain't gonna get done hun.

Well that is where you need to use other tools, such as these forums and ask others.

Wikis are not perfect, and sometimes they aint even right. Nothing is going to beat info from people who have hundreds of hours played. Even then a wiki might only offer a brief explanation rather than opinions and ways to use that info in practice you can get from forums.

I know a lot about the game from playing it and from reading forums and picking up things from different people. Not everything cna be learned in a wiki.

 

[RegalBeagle]

one of the drawbacks of a lot of people doing this in their spare time for nothing other than kindness I suppose.

Oh, I totally get it and truthfully sympathize with King and the Team, they already have out-done a AAA company, hands down.

If I sound harsh it's because the production value IS so high on SSI, SSII, and everything between. Honestly, I feel like they could develop their own post-apocalyptic character driven city-building simulator, and make bank.

 

[1ae0bfb8]

Here's a thought, if you see gaps and issues, why don't you offer to assist? That's what I did. I'm certain you'd be welcomed aboard, and you'd be contributing to something you care about, and that's a good feeling.

 

[RegalBeagle]

Here's a thought, if you see gaps and issues, why don't you offer to assist? That's what I did. I'm certain you'd be welcomed aboard, and you'd be contributing to something you care about, and that's a good feeling.

That thought is a thought i've had for some time - I would like to write lore, or maybe a few characters.... Sure sure. Yeah, alright. I'll do what I can.

 

[Iirly]

I have learned more about some of the plots just reading this thread than I have in using the wiki or playing the game. Yes I know the wiki isn't done and its done in people's spare time. Can anyone help update it? Because the answers and info are here. I've seen it in several posts. I'm sure someone could aggregate it and move it to the wiki. I have free time since I'm rounding up my semester, I'd be willing to help do that.

 

[RegalBeagle]

I have learned more about some of the plots just reading this thread than I have in using the wiki or playing the game. Yes I know the wiki isn't done and its done in people's spare time. Can anyone help update it? Because the answers and info are here. I've seen it in several posts. I'm sure someone could aggregate it and move it to the wiki. I have free time since I'm rounding up my semester, I'd be willing to help do that.

I could, and would be delighted to. I just need to know the details, and all that jazz. Please, hit me up over the message system. I literally have all day, everyday to help out. I sent a message earlier to Damanding about a writing position, I would love to do the Wiki as well.

 

[Iirly]

Sounds like a plan. I will do the same.

 

[mytigio]

I believe there is a thread specifically covering wiki contribution here: https://simsettlements.com/site/ind...delines-for-the-sim-settlements-2-wiki.14038/