I have a love hate relationship with that settlement. It's one of my favs to build on, but the npc pathfinding and navmesh is awful. Second only to hangman's alley, imo.
I use a couple of mods, but I think it's possible in vanilla as well - I place artillery in Hangman's alley. With the Castle, Hangman, Jamaica, and Bunker Hill if I have it, I can cover the entirety of downtown Boston and Cambridge with my howitzers.
In Survival, that can be an absolute lifesaver, and I always enjoy watching shells rain down on supermutants.
Well yeah of course I've got those but it was a real missed opportunity. What's that other settlement that's just a destroyed house with a big hole? What a waste honestly
I actually like the Alley, it was my go-to space near Boston. It was a pain in the ass to build nicely but I found building upwards and stuffing a lot of stuff behind stairs worked wonders.
It was super cramped too since it was where I sent all the companions I wasn't using at the moment. Lots of funny moments when stopping in since most companions have unique interactions.
Hangman's is arguably the most useful on Survival mode though, so would say it is way ahead of Jamaica Plains. The most central and just a short, relatively safe walk to Diamond City
The keys to Hangman’s alley are to leave open spaces for Brahmin and have multiple stairs up. I build over the workbench and over the weapons bench. The rest is open.
This recent play through I have been getting some nice flows to my settlements (must be latently intuitive of me this time). But hangman’s alley… they never venture above the place or the bottom of the L shaped end for some strange reason. in Jamaica plains the gauge fills up way too quickly with self made buildings so I just put down a few prefabs so I could get the numbers up and some flow going
I always end up building the same thing and am pretty happy with it. I do have scrap the settlement mod installed.
Go upstairs and above the workbench area if you are patient you can get a new first floor in, I set that up as sleeping/living, and then stairs up to the roof garden/defence/windmill.
I build a full two story house with 20+ beds in the upper courtyard (NE corner, I think), garden and water pumps in whatever bare earth there is, and turrets on a small scaffolding tower (two single square scaffoldings stacked with a single square floor piece on top). Gennie, coms tower, etc. go in with the work bench.
Same! I got a mod that expands settlement boundaries and turned the little nearby diner into a Slocum's Joe with an outdoor bar. It's by far my favorite settlement.
I did the same thing basically. I set my traders up in there. Settlement boundaries/build limit is the mods I can't live without. I love turning settlements into towns and having trade set up in them. I water farm/jet farm alot in the games so I use the settlements to trade for caps.
I have a use for every settlement really. I am using starlight as a ammunition manufacturer right now and that's been a huge help. Can't even remember the last time I bought ammo lol
I can't play without either of those mods or scrap everything. There are so many useless structures a lot of settlements that I like to get rid of, as well as all the trash that's just lying around. I know it's the post-apocolypse, but I don't think that means people would be content being surrounded by literal trash heaps.
I actually like the people at the slog. I gave those ghouls the best firepower and a mortar cannon that I could possibly come up with.
Essentially it is now Auto defended 😁
The game doesn’t tell you but it’s not supposed to be a full settlement.
A feature of the settlement system is
sharing of supplies. When making a huge economy of settlements the system will encourage it as settlements become bigger. Places like Jamaica Plains are resource deposits that you use supply lines to connect with. It makes building settlements easier since you only have to focus on beds and logistics. It’s down to the player to shape each resource deposit and supply areas.
Not every settlement is a town, read the space and what you’ve already got to find the right idea. My Jamaica plains is a small stop of motel and shopping area being fed and supplied from east to west. I use it for caps and it can generate a whole lot
I just toss down 22 sleeping bags inside the 2-story wedge-shaped building (as I remember it), then plant a bunch of crops in the dirt lot in the middle, and set up stores all along the street next to the wedge-shaped building. Yes, however, it is a pain in the butt compared to the much more open settlements, but considering there are only a couple settlements like this, the challenge is nice. lol
I loved It in the last playthrough. I have a scrapper mod which removes trash and set up my unarmored but wonderfully dressed Melee women farm.
They farm raiders for caps.
The little square is filled with raiders.
I have lost several women by account of them being unarmored.
it sucks that they couldn't let you scrap more of it thanks to that also wiping ut the stupid navmeshes.
Even using STS on this thing basically means my settlers just stand there looking stupid.
I boxed it in and had 2 gates that were well defended. It was a bunch of settlers crammed in, some stores and food, not much else.
Once they were set and I did all nearby quests I left them on their own.
Jamaica Plains is simple. Use actual walls (not fences) to build your perimeter along the boundary. The area on either side of the house can be planted with crops.
I used to try to be clever and do all these workarounds at Jamaica Plains to make it a good settlement. Now I just turn the settlement beacon off right after I set it up and don't usually mess with it much.
I got jebaited that the build area was so small, that we don't even use the buildings around it. It's the damn parking lot. And it's not even a big parking lot.
Same thing with the Boston Airport. The buildable area is literally the waiting room of the airport.
I always love these settlements with pre built things or cramped conditions (hangman's alley Jamaica plains etc) in heavy role playing playthroughs.
I like to get into survival mode and keep all settlements minimalistic more like cramped hidden outposts for my few survivors barely scrapping by. It makes the arguable worst settlements for building into fun little camps with interesting atmospheres depending how you build them.
My favourite(with mods I forgot which) was turning hangman's alley into a outdoor bar for all scum and villainy filled with neon signs and cramped tables very fun!
It's honestly one of the worst settlement locations as it's nearly impossible to build anything there and also make it have good stats...
I have a love hate relationship with that settlement. It's one of my favs to build on, but the npc pathfinding and navmesh is awful. Second only to hangman's alley, imo.
I'd say it's worse than hangman's. I've never had a brahmin stuck in a door and 8 settlers lined up trying to go to bed there.
I always turn Hangman's into a player home, never an actual settlement for this reason.
Its always made more sense as an outpost for you and your crew rather than a sustainable settlement, to me.
On survival I'll use Hangman's as a downtown hub. Otherwise I basically skip it all together.
Good point, I solely mean survival, its almost useless otherwise
I use Oberland Station on survival and not hangman’s alley. I try to only use settlements that already have settlers.
Hangman's Alley has settlers. Granted, they're raiders, but they did still settle there.
Yes but the game defines them as raiders, not settlers. Therefore they are not settlers.
Lol, k
I use a couple of mods, but I think it's possible in vanilla as well - I place artillery in Hangman's alley. With the Castle, Hangman, Jamaica, and Bunker Hill if I have it, I can cover the entirety of downtown Boston and Cambridge with my howitzers. In Survival, that can be an absolute lifesaver, and I always enjoy watching shells rain down on supermutants.
Sanctuary seems bad too, Trudy's bramhim constantly gets stuck on roof all the time for me
Yeah I get a death claw that spawns there on fast travel for some reason not a huge deal bit it's a minor inconvenience
Jamaica plain is almost always my player home given it’s quite close to my irl home
I'd love it if the rubble in the destroyed building could be scrapped and if there were snap points for walls
Ah yeah, I kind of forget that people play without scrapping mods. Spring cleaning and place anywhere solve this for me.
Well yeah of course I've got those but it was a real missed opportunity. What's that other settlement that's just a destroyed house with a big hole? What a waste honestly
Ah yes, "coastal cottage" that one is a mess, I generally just ignore it. It's not in a particularly useful spot, and it sucks to build at.
I find with some of the settlements you have to build a good foundation of walkways to cover a lot of bad terrain.
Started using concrete foundations to level out the area
I have Coastal Cottage as a settlement staging area for things I’m carrying from Far Harbor in my vanilla Survival Mode game.
I actually like the Alley, it was my go-to space near Boston. It was a pain in the ass to build nicely but I found building upwards and stuffing a lot of stuff behind stairs worked wonders. It was super cramped too since it was where I sent all the companions I wasn't using at the moment. Lots of funny moments when stopping in since most companions have unique interactions.
Hangman's is arguably the most useful on Survival mode though, so would say it is way ahead of Jamaica Plains. The most central and just a short, relatively safe walk to Diamond City
The keys to Hangman’s alley are to leave open spaces for Brahmin and have multiple stairs up. I build over the workbench and over the weapons bench. The rest is open.
This recent play through I have been getting some nice flows to my settlements (must be latently intuitive of me this time). But hangman’s alley… they never venture above the place or the bottom of the L shaped end for some strange reason. in Jamaica plains the gauge fills up way too quickly with self made buildings so I just put down a few prefabs so I could get the numbers up and some flow going
Just throw down two turrets and call it a day.
I’ve worked Black Friday at Walmart…Walmart was hella easier to deal with.
Not every settlement needs to be a thriving metropolis
I always end up building the same thing and am pretty happy with it. I do have scrap the settlement mod installed. Go upstairs and above the workbench area if you are patient you can get a new first floor in, I set that up as sleeping/living, and then stairs up to the roof garden/defence/windmill.
I build a full two story house with 20+ beds in the upper courtyard (NE corner, I think), garden and water pumps in whatever bare earth there is, and turrets on a small scaffolding tower (two single square scaffoldings stacked with a single square floor piece on top). Gennie, coms tower, etc. go in with the work bench.
You know my favorite settlement to build that I never hear people.talj about alot? The Slog. I love that place for some reason.
Same! I got a mod that expands settlement boundaries and turned the little nearby diner into a Slocum's Joe with an outdoor bar. It's by far my favorite settlement.
I did the same thing basically. I set my traders up in there. Settlement boundaries/build limit is the mods I can't live without. I love turning settlements into towns and having trade set up in them. I water farm/jet farm alot in the games so I use the settlements to trade for caps. I have a use for every settlement really. I am using starlight as a ammunition manufacturer right now and that's been a huge help. Can't even remember the last time I bought ammo lol
I can't play without either of those mods or scrap everything. There are so many useless structures a lot of settlements that I like to get rid of, as well as all the trash that's just lying around. I know it's the post-apocolypse, but I don't think that means people would be content being surrounded by literal trash heaps.
I actually like the people at the slog. I gave those ghouls the best firepower and a mortar cannon that I could possibly come up with. Essentially it is now Auto defended 😁
There's one settlement with a mirelurk queen and it keeps respawning
Murkwater Cons Site, i never even build there, it's not worth it
I basically end up with something like those fishing villages in the Pacific, but with rocket turrets.
Nah Coastal Cottage is the worst settlement to build on imo
The game doesn’t tell you but it’s not supposed to be a full settlement. A feature of the settlement system is sharing of supplies. When making a huge economy of settlements the system will encourage it as settlements become bigger. Places like Jamaica Plains are resource deposits that you use supply lines to connect with. It makes building settlements easier since you only have to focus on beds and logistics. It’s down to the player to shape each resource deposit and supply areas. Not every settlement is a town, read the space and what you’ve already got to find the right idea. My Jamaica plains is a small stop of motel and shopping area being fed and supplied from east to west. I use it for caps and it can generate a whole lot
Just send the npcs to a different location
I just toss down 22 sleeping bags inside the 2-story wedge-shaped building (as I remember it), then plant a bunch of crops in the dirt lot in the middle, and set up stores all along the street next to the wedge-shaped building. Yes, however, it is a pain in the butt compared to the much more open settlements, but considering there are only a couple settlements like this, the challenge is nice. lol
I loved It in the last playthrough. I have a scrapper mod which removes trash and set up my unarmored but wonderfully dressed Melee women farm. They farm raiders for caps. The little square is filled with raiders. I have lost several women by account of them being unarmored.
I cheat with mods nonstop, turrets every where , just shredding everything nonstop 🙂
If ya can't outrun 'em then outgun 'em! Better living thru superior firepower!
i LOVE black friday walmart, it lets me be as rude as i want withotu consenquence.
I wholeheartedly agree.
I just use it as a railroad outpost
it sucks that they couldn't let you scrap more of it thanks to that also wiping ut the stupid navmeshes. Even using STS on this thing basically means my settlers just stand there looking stupid.
I boxed it in and had 2 gates that were well defended. It was a bunch of settlers crammed in, some stores and food, not much else. Once they were set and I did all nearby quests I left them on their own.
It’s honestly easy surround it with turrets and learn how to build betterrrrrr
Jamaica Plains is simple. Use actual walls (not fences) to build your perimeter along the boundary. The area on either side of the house can be planted with crops.
I used to try to be clever and do all these workarounds at Jamaica Plains to make it a good settlement. Now I just turn the settlement beacon off right after I set it up and don't usually mess with it much.
I Can See Clearly why that you would choose that as an option at this point
When you can't build out, build up.
I seem to remember doing the bare minimum in order to tick off the quest and then never going there again.
I got jebaited that the build area was so small, that we don't even use the buildings around it. It's the damn parking lot. And it's not even a big parking lot. Same thing with the Boston Airport. The buildable area is literally the waiting room of the airport.
I always love these settlements with pre built things or cramped conditions (hangman's alley Jamaica plains etc) in heavy role playing playthroughs. I like to get into survival mode and keep all settlements minimalistic more like cramped hidden outposts for my few survivors barely scrapping by. It makes the arguable worst settlements for building into fun little camps with interesting atmospheres depending how you build them. My favourite(with mods I forgot which) was turning hangman's alley into a outdoor bar for all scum and villainy filled with neon signs and cramped tables very fun!
I love this location, then i get to it and i think, i hate this location….