SIM SETTLEMENTS 2

Tune up Fallout 4’s settlement system.

- Chris Livingston

Raiders attack my settlements in Fallout 4 pretty often, but they’ve never taken hostages before. And now I have to go out into the woods, where the raiders have guns trained at my settlers’ heads, to save them. Dialogue options give me the choice of trying to pay the raiders off with caps or trying to talk my way out of it. Since my silver tongue has gotten me out of plenty of jams in the past, I tell the raider in charge that I’m sure we can come to a peaceful resolution.

“Nope,” the lead raider says. “They die.” And he immediately shoots one of my settlers in the head, point-blank. A proper bloodbath follows.

All of this – raiders capturing my people, offering me a chance to talk things over, and then ignoring me – is a big shock to me, and that’s just a few of the many surprises in the Sim Settlements 2 mod. Like the original Sim Settlements mod, it overhauls the settlement creation and management system in Fallout 4. But Sim Settlements 2 also adds a helping of something else Fallout 4’s settlement system has always lacked. Drama! Yes, it’s got lots of great new building systems, but it’s also packed with new characters, stories and quests.

After first installing the mod, I head to my Sanctuary Hills settlement, which I’ve never really done much with. I’ve got beds scattered here and there, some defences strewn around, and enough food and water sources to keep the population satisfied. But it’s never felt like a real settlement where people live. I’ve only done the minimum to keep the numbers in the green.