I've come up with some a strategy/some rules for my new playthrough (what can I say, I like the main quests and some of the side quests are interesting as well) which should a) help in settlement growth and b) maybe avoid some of the issues I've been having with settlements.
1) Sanctuary is for the Concord 5 (Preston and crew). No growth until The Castle quest. Possibly use vanilla items until Preston goes to The Castle
2) Start off in one of the settlements with a larger build area (Abernathy or Starlight Drive In. Starlight Drive In is probably the better choice).
3) Apart from the starting settlement and the quest where you meet Stodge and company where there's no control over how many settlers the settlement starts with, every other settlement will start with 1-2 farms, power, water, defense and a building material or junk gathering plot, requiring 5-6 settlers, depending on how many farms are required. Residential will consist of 5 multi-residential, allowing for 20 residents. Add plots as needed (especially caravan plots). As some settlements already have settlers, then the number of starting settlers can be reduced
4) Where settlements already have an established food source (such as Abernathy), where possible assign settlers to vanilla items instead of SS2 items (I am aware of the issues with vanilla/SS2 auto assignment and will be keeping an eye on those settlements to make everyone is doing the job they were assigned to).
5) Stick to the NW settlements. Settling the entire map would be fun, but I have no idea what Part 2 is going to bring. I'd rather not give those Gunner bastards any more targets, as much fun as putting lead into those scumbags is.
1) Sanctuary is for the Concord 5 (Preston and crew). No growth until The Castle quest. Possibly use vanilla items until Preston goes to The Castle
2) Start off in one of the settlements with a larger build area (Abernathy or Starlight Drive In. Starlight Drive In is probably the better choice).
3) Apart from the starting settlement and the quest where you meet Stodge and company where there's no control over how many settlers the settlement starts with, every other settlement will start with 1-2 farms, power, water, defense and a building material or junk gathering plot, requiring 5-6 settlers, depending on how many farms are required. Residential will consist of 5 multi-residential, allowing for 20 residents. Add plots as needed (especially caravan plots). As some settlements already have settlers, then the number of starting settlers can be reduced
4) Where settlements already have an established food source (such as Abernathy), where possible assign settlers to vanilla items instead of SS2 items (I am aware of the issues with vanilla/SS2 auto assignment and will be keeping an eye on those settlements to make everyone is doing the job they were assigned to).
5) Stick to the NW settlements. Settling the entire map would be fun, but I have no idea what Part 2 is going to bring. I'd rather not give those Gunner bastards any more targets, as much fun as putting lead into those scumbags is.
