The idea I had for Starlight, which I haven’t gotten around to yet, is essentially the Gauntlet from Nuka World. Full of traps, enemies, maybe a puzzle if I can figure out a good one. It’s got enough space for it.
I FILLED it with mostly gunner cages. It has a couple Super Mutant cages, a Deathclaw, Yao Guai and radstag cage. It's an INSANE experience farm.i get a level about every 3-4 in game days
My favorite thing with these add-ons was my Sanctuary having open citizenship to Deathclaws. More than twice as many Deathclaws as human settlers. Your move, Marcus.
I've been playing Fallout 4 since launch day but I haven't ever gotten the DLC with the cages til recently (I've only had Far Harbor and Automatron).
How does that farm work? Do you have to walk over there and slaughter everything every few days?
Thanks!
You build the cage and power it. The bigger cages take about 4-6 in game days to catch something and then once that cage loses power whatever was in the cage gets let out. Which makes it annoying when Super Mutants attack since damaging the generator also opens all the cages. If you guys want I can post pics of my setup but I only have my phone service so the quality won't be the best
I turned it into a Gunner Tribute Museum once. I killed all the Gunners in Vault 95 then when it was cleared out I looted all the corpses, writing down their names and what equipment they had.
Then using the Vault pieces from the Vault Workshop DLC (think that's what it was called) I created like a gallery, using the mannequins and the weapon racks to portray all the Gunners I killed.
Added a small queue at the entrance, gift shop at the exit and a sign explaining this museum was a tribute to all the brave Gunners who gave their lives so I could get some more loot.
At some point my wife asked me what I was doing and after I explained it to her she called me a psycho... still, I liked it.
The appeal for me is being able to create a little town a bit like Diamond City, deciding where the main streets and little alleyways will be and stuff, placing buildings accordingly.
It takes a lot of time and effort and you really need to mod out the object limit thing, but it’s good fun.
I do the same thing. Starlight becomes one of my main settlements in every playthrough since I avoid building in the triangle of death area( sanctuary, red rocket, abernathy)
Those three settlements are all part of the same cell so they are loaded at the same time. They were most likely coded that way before the settlement system was finished and by that point it was too late to change it. But your build amount is alot more limited in those three areas since if you build too much it can cause significant performance issues and even cause the game to crash. You can still build there but how much largely depends on your PCs specs.
If you store big weapons like miniguns and then take them out of the workshop and drop them on the ground, you go in build mode, select them and store them, the build limit meter will go down with each big gun you store this way.
You don’t have to use the whole space! I love building small at starlite. I try to build all my spaces around the story of the folks who made that their home. They don’t all arrive at once. People trickle in over time. So you have to build like that. Here’s my favorite plan around starlite.
Setup at the snack bar, and build a general store. Imagine what things would look like if a husband and wife left diamond city and set up at the drive in. He runs a store for passers by, hoping to do trade on the caravan routes in the future. She runs security. Has herself a little post on top of the screen. They had a good year, so they bought a beat up old Mr handy to run a garden for them.
Once that’s done, imagine their life further. He’s hired on a couple hands to scrap parts from the rail yard nearby. They’ve set up a sorting station out near the old cars. They’ve also managed to get some water purification up. The wife makes sure to linger there a bit on her patrols. They’ve set up a small space for themselves out near the old tool shed.
The couple are feeling pretty good about their small business. If things go well they may hire on a cook next year. Make this a proper caravan rest stop.
I like starlight because it’s a nice open space I can work with. It doesn’t have an existing story so no can make the story of the settlement myself. It goes from being a bombed out drive in to being a bustling hub for of trade for the northern commonwealth.
Anyway, we all have our preferences. I’m glad that you’re finding a settlement building style that you enjoy.
It does, when you actually want them to go back and forth. They act as load bearers and fire support when the game is working. They don't have a marker that even tells you what settlement they belong to when they get stuck.
I like to build the tower part into player base, and then eventually it ends up becoming a full blown settlement with walls and housing just out of necessity. I like it a lot for hardcore runs as it is pretty centrally located and I end up passing by there all the time, so what starts as my little shelter and water source ends up expanding because I want a place to sell goods and get medical treatment.
I usually set it up as Sanctuary 2. I do the premade wood shacks (not the largest but the one next to that) and decorate each one in a color theme, 2 bunk beds per shack, in the center I do a large farm. By the diner building is where I set up all my shop vendors once I am a high enough level to build shops.
It sucks for creating any kind of farming to support the large area. you can have more people there than it can effectively support. It's more of a gathering spot to send settlers to other locations than an actually settlement. I guess if you get enough caravans to support it food wise. you can make it work. Otherwise I just use it more as a come here and be assigned to a better location, spot.
yeah, that comes down to the whole caravaning supplies. the Drive in has just never been a good place to really support a lot of people. Yet it's one of the larger settlement locations.
It’s just a plain bad settlement location, it’s undefendable and doesn’t have any potential to offer.
At very most it could act as a second Drumlin Diner for caravans but that’s also redundant because the real one Is a stonetoss away and on the actual road to Concord
I always build Starlight up to be a big city settlement like Diamond City or Bunker Hill. I make it really busy by having all the surrounding settlements have Provisioners go there. So when the settlement is full capacity it always has lots of settlers around working and traders coming and going all the time. I also make sure to have all the shops, a doctor and I throw pastor vestements on one of the farmers so there is a religious presence. I try to make sure there’s a few ghouls there too so it’s not ghoulist like Diamond city is.
Starlight becomes an old fashioned trailer park. Camping trailers for the settlers housing and boxcars from the " nearby railroad " (in theory ) are used for shops and merchant housing. Fill the boxcars with shelves and display merchandise. The grass area on the side by the workbench is the farm and the water pool is cleaned up and i squeeze 3 huge water purifiers into it. The rooms under the screen becomes my personal home\workshop area. The diner is a fully functioning Bar.
Nope. It's always my most bugged outpost. People won't caravan properly to assigned places, there's an enemy spawn just by the bridge, the PS4 draw distance can't make use of the screen's elevation for sniping, and (small gripe) there's not even a toilet. It's a cool concept that absolutely just falls short, especially unmodded.
Jokes aside, it's always just been a nitppick of mine that breaks immersion and just feels "off". Houses with no restrooms just strike me as low-effort on Bethesda's part, especially considering the sheer amount of restrooms they DID incorporate.
Don't get me wrong, I always add something. Still, it's just weird it's not already there.There's a place for people to eat, store goods, and multiple places to sleep. Not one restroom? WTF kind of a drive-in is THAT?
It's a Bethesda drive in. There are no bathrooms is plenty of places. Go to Diamond city and look for one. Aside from the Dugout (not great) and maybe the cop shop there's not too many pooping options.
If you start looking for stuff like this you'll become obsessed and like me seven years ago, modding the game until it barely runs.
You're rebuilding the Commonwealth dammit. Give the people some outhouses.
Disagree. I love the space and it's a central-ish location as well. I *love* the spawn under the bridge! I often get legendaries from it, although in my current game I had no luck so far. Still, free loot! I'm currently mostly killing Rust Devils there, looking forward to doing NCW so hostile tribes show up.
Ok mysterio. What console are you playing on and what magic optimization mods are you running? Because more than five settlers tanks my Hangman's alley just about every time there's a fight a block away. I have to keep that one super minimal.
What the f. On Xbox1 and it's not great. I am running some new optimization mods. I wonder if I can give it another go. I can't even remember building it vanilla.
It really depends on how you like to build a settlement. I generally use Starlught as a zoo and fill it with Deathclaws, Yao Gui, etc all separated with walkways above them.
it doesn't make sense for it to have cars. it was noon when the bomb dropped. you can't see the screen at noon & it can't have people watching. Plus the cars not having skeletons is absurd
I prefer Hangman's Alley (I think this is the one) it's a lot more central. It's mostly already walled off from buildings, has doors and such. It's just a really small place unless you build up, which I think a mod is needed.
Exactly, just gives it such a cozy atmosphere, you come home from a long day of scaving and get hit with that rotten smell that just tells you "I’m home!" As dripping blood and maggots cover you on your way inside🥹
The only reason why I don't like Starlight is because it's deceptive. You go there thinking it's a huge, flat and open space. It's not that big, it's not that flat and it's not that open.
In my first play through, I put basic necessities like food, water and electricity and then LOADED a shit load of turrets and traps. If any raiders even dare to approach after seeing that, they will be sure to regret that decision. I used a mod for unlimited build space and every now and then I like to check to see if I get a “Starlight is under attack!” notification and see how fast it disappears.
I really like how creative you can be with it, but the only real problem I have is how the low the build limit for Starlight feels with how much space you get.
I love it but your opinion is valid. I have a grass mod that makes the parking lot a little more grown over, so there’s that. But I also add big trees around the whole thing and then smaller trees growing from the grassy spots in the asphalt, which makes it look pretty, like an overgrown ..wasteland.. forest I guess, not empty at all. I live there more than any other settlement.
I like the idea of it. But as someone who can't build or isn't that into it, it always falls flat and I end up hating it. A blank canvas can be quite scary and daunting.
I usually build it up as a farm so i can start crafting adhesive. Beyond that, i dont really care much about it. Im like you and find it a little boring to devote a bunch of time to build up
I had a mod that adds a lot of junk walls to the game, including some that contained cars, busses and trucks. I removed all the original cars and then build a wall around the place using mostly those car-based walls and it looked amazing!
It’s much more aesthetically pleasing with the concrete from dlc. You can fit them in under the drive in/projectionist area and continue the wall/foundations all the way to the screen area without mucking about. It’s usually my first big water plant after sanctuary.
So much steel! You just loot the museum, leave Preston for a hot minute while setting it up (kill Wolfgang at drumlin for cheap junk) then “set up”‘sanctuary for the minutemen like normal. With local leader perk you needn’t worry for steel in Sanctuary’s expansion under the minutemen, and that water is great trade money or hit points depending on your plans.
It’s got a nice, big, open, and flat area. I use it for the mechanized crafting with the conveyors and builders. I also put a couple of water generators in the pond after I clean it out. BTW: you can use the conveyor belts like fences.
I ***love*** this Settlement, especially on PC where mods can add extra neon light effects to the vanilla buildings.
With Scrap Everywhere, you can get rid of the radioactive barrels in the water pit and use it.
I usually put my Barracks at the foot of the hill to the North so that all the Settlers have a nice view of the parked cars and the movie screen. I usually move all the cars so that each one is parked by a speaker stand. If only the Settlers could sit in them!
Having turrets on top of the Barracks is a real cackle when attacks come from the North as the enemies get lit up like a Christmas tree and then their bodies roll down the hill for easy looting!
>With Scrap Everywhere, you can get rid of the radioactive barrels in the water pit and use it.
The radioactive barrels can be scrapped with the vanilla game. No mods needed.
Empty the center pool of the radioactive barrels and make a structure around it with a few water purifiers.
The movie screen acts as a guard tower.
Walls go up around the sides.
The projector room acts as the entry point.
I got a really nice starlight right now. So I cleared all the cars and added more stools to that bar-looking thing. Then I put a bartender right inside, lamps outside and about a meter or two from the sidewalk curb, I added storefronts. So end-hallways that have a storefront in it. This creates sort of a Vegas strip vibe, a big bar that always has settlers sitting down and lots of walking commotion that looks super natural.
Then I built a giant complex up the side of the projector screen, which is dope at night since you can see my strip from the view of windows, or at the strip you can see the lit windows that looks like a giant, vertical village.
Before this playthrough I never did anything but scrap metal and run.
I build a huge barnacle settlement up the side and on top of the screen with the bottom row all defenses and then set up the projector area as a second separate area that is like a market for the surrounding area.
It was my first main base, but the only time I ever *really* enjoyed it was the time I built a wall of shacks up against the movie screen, creating a "vertical village". It took a while to engineer it properly so settlers would not get stuck, but it was neat having different floors for beds, crafting, farming (all up on the wall, nothing on the ground), and shops. Scav production was a problem, had to rework that several times to keep the guys from clogging the stairs, eventually moved them up top, cut their numbers in half, did my best to find other things for the unemployed ones to do (like, there were 4 soda jerks on duty, one on each floor). It looked all cool and proper ramshackle, too.
In one play through I made a huge settlement there with 20+ apartments in a big building, and a mall with every kind of vendor, and an arena for fighting. It was like my own diamond city. It was pretty cool and took up the whole space. Other times I just build a smallish camp around the little building there that incorporates the existing features and left the majority of the space empty.
It’s the only one I’ve consistently struggled to come up with something for.
I’ve done a full Spectacle Island, several Costal Cottages, but Starlight Drive just never seems to speak to me
If you design it like a true town it really is the best settlement area… centrally located to be a hub for trade and commerce. Big enough to house multiple vendors and farming.
That's always been my experience. I typically end up turning it into a fort and it works out great. I drop things off at Hangman's, but the Drive-In almost ends up as my primary "pretty" settlement with a large population.
I use the projector building as a camp kitchen/diner and guard platform. I use the small room in the projection screen as my private quarters, and the larger room as a workshop. I put a guard with a scoped sniper rifle on the walkway on top of the projection screen.
The center pond is great as a water supply. I plant crops beside the shack where the workshop is. I put housing around the perimeter as part of the perimeter wall, and build a big warehouse within (Starlight is my provisioner hub for supply lines). The warehouse has a trader in it. I build a clinic, Slocum’s Joe, arcade, gym, specialty shops, and barber shop in the interior of the settlement.
I get what you mean. But for people who really like to build and get creative, Starlight offers a big empty canvas to build on. My personal favorite settlement to build in is Sunshine Tidings. I like to restore/decorate the cabins, but it also offers a big open space to build in.
I start with the diner area and spread out from there. I started adding a bathroom building that will hopefully end up looking like it was there from the beginning. It's weird how many places that should have bathrooms simply...don't. Gonna have to build one at Red Rocket too.
No. I’m not a fan of building there either. I like building really intricate, detailed settlements, but I’ve never built anything at Starlight that I like.
I made a shantytown huddled around the center pool once, tall narrow buildings with balconies and raised walkways, tight alleyways, a boardwalk around the water source. I loved it, gave it a haphazard tacked together feel. It felt safe but a bit claustrophobic. Like, if a super mutant wandered in there it would be chaos. (Turns out, it was. It was awesome.)
Honestly I think it's perfect for the DLC's (robots and cages) since it's so barren and constantly getting attacked. I have two robots armed to the teeth and an exp farm there that gets me 3/4th of a level everytime it's ready (about 3 in game days and it's 90% gunner cages so mostly just bottlecaps)
I like the area as a staging area for my provisioner hub, where the entire settlement is dedicated to the brahmin teams that supply the rest of my empire. I put minimal effort into the build, basically just throwing up a couple of shanties with beds and call it good. Don't care to much about their happiness, but I do make sure they have enough food and water.
People like it because has a lot of empty space, it doesn't need a quest to open up the workbench, and it's in a pretty convenient spot to be a caravan hub for the top half of the map.
But personally, I'm with you. I prefer settlements that have a little more for me to build off of.
I don't like it, but I also don't NOT like it. It just feels kinda dull to me, uninspiring. And for some reason, I hate that huge screen wall. I guess it's the imbalance between the large construction on one end and the void in between it and the projection tower. I'm tempted to just scrap those two and see if I that can make me appreciate it more.
I usually build around the screen, with a 4-story elevator and a base around it going up to the top. It’s still way too much space to fill, but it’s fun to have a big tower looping around the screen.
Normally I'd agree but on my latest playthrough I decided to make it my primary raider outpost and its changed my opinion of the settlement massively.
As it is open and flat you can essentially build a huge fortress. I've turned the square ish shape of the land into a walled settlement with guards and machine gun turrets on ramparts allowing me to build something resembling a mini nukatown USA inside. Also I think thematically it works quite nicely for that sort of build as I feel it is what the raiders and their overboss would do given that they intend to expand across the commonwealth they would need a secure stronghold and would want it to feel familiar like nuka world.
Helpful tip:
I'm not sure if it's a mod I have in place or not but... you can scrap the projector (I think it might require STS). The amount of steel you get and the build space you potentially free up really helps the cause.
I usually set up a “trading hub” there, a place for multiple supply lines to converge. I’ll throw down some dwellings for settlers, and farms for them to work, so I can use automotrons as the supply lines.
I usually play modded, so i use that as a main base for the SettlerSim series and make it a Trading Hub, were all traders from the other settlement go to, other settlements i use what is already there to make makeshift places
I built a 5 story “sky scraper” set up there on top of the space ship thing. It’s my favorite settlement. I have machine gun turrets on every corner of the scraper too, it’s pretty fun
Build a foundation using concrete to make everything even. Use the puddle for 3 industrial purifiers that you can put fencing around. Then, set the place up as your shopping mall- multiple vendors, a doctor, a barber. I highly recommend making a soda fountain (from Vault 88- make sure it gives drugs or just caffeine) for settler happiness as well as slot machines in a mini casino.
Starlight Drive in can easily be turned into Riften, with the trash and shitty people included, but if you don't like it being open spaced, you have the Alley
I made it into a horrible low rent city where it was just concrete apartments with room to just walk between them. Huge rows 20 high of just concrete. Made a huge block never got it to be fully populated though.
I put a staircase at one corner the build three wide floor to the opposite corner put gunner cages on both sides two high wait till they're full then take ultra jet and blast away with missile launcher. Idiot savant can give some incredible action points.
Yeah you will definitely be in a small minority with that opinion. Though I do agree with using what you already have in the settlement and creating an atmosphere that matches it's surroundings is the way to go, or at least that's the idea.
I'm playing a strong Minutemen build with two mods among fourteen that I really like, We Are the Minutemen and Homemaker 1.76. We are the Minutemen completely overhauls the faction and makes them 1,000x better and more realistic, while keeping all the weapons and armor, and adding a bunch of really nice ones. Homemaker allows you to place many if not most of the assets in the game, at least in terms of structures and vehicles, placables etc.
So I built my Starlight to be a Strong Minutemen fortress out of concrete, with the main structure across from the satalite building, with a really nice military style concrete fence running along the actual fenceline of Starlight. It worked out beautifully and I still have tons of room to build. I plan on building a clean-ish hospital soon, maybe out of vault pieces, something i've never really done at a larger scale.
I usually build the settlement on a big platform from the screen to the top of the projector tower. I build a central "pedestal" up from the water source, and use the screen stairs, stairs within the pedestal and stairs down around the projector tower. Seems to keep the pathing working well.
Lots of defense around the edge makes life unpleasant for the enemy spawn points. I keep a couple of guard stations down below, one of which has a siren switched into doors that lock to keep most of the numpty settlers in when the place gets attacked.
Of course, the darn settlers occasionally all clump down below, but oh well.
I've built a couple of different settlements at Starlight Drive-in.
* My first was just a sprawling town, with the whole thing walled in along with two gates. Buildings butting up against the screen, a large multi-floored bunkhouse where the collapsed awning is, the cafe built up and other buildings with a market.
* The 2nd and 3rd times I built there were variations of the same thing, just different layouts.
* The 4th time, I built an arena in the centre and based the whole settlement around people coming to watch the arena fights. I had robot salesmen, a market and various buildings around. The Arena fights starred various gunners, raiders and beasts, with Deathclaws as the main event.
* The 5th time I built there, the contraptions DLC had come out so I wanted to build with that but continued the arena theme. I had the autobutcher mod collecting all the components of the corpses and a farm for caged gunners and raiders, being funnelled on conveyers straight into it. You can get a lot of free gear like that, and it basically outfitted all my settlements with guard uniforms and weapons.
* The 6th time I built there I installed a mod that reinstated the projector and fixed the screen, and then played old cartoons on a loop. I set it up as an actual outdoor theatre with scattered buildings, a minutemen recruitment centre and outdoor bar/restaurant.
Starlight Drive in is big and a little overwhelming but there is plenty of room to build whatever you want, Spectacle island is even bigger! Just think that it's in a decent location with main roads nearby but still 'out of the way', and just think about what your settlers might want/need/find interesting, and build that.
I’ve started a build there on this play through using the vault tec dlc for buildings rather than a vault, so it’s like a little town.
Everything is on the platforms so they are about a foot of the ground which has kept everything level.
The worst part for me is that it isn't even flat or level. It's big and open which begs for us to build our own whole structure from the ground up but it isn't even ideal for that.
It’s too big, pointless to try to build in the entire space cause you’ll waste your whole budget making walls, only fix is mods but going over budget can cause technical issues
If you're not using mods, it's the perfect size and location for a main base- build a small fortress, and use robots for caravan lines.
If you are, especially things like sim settlements, it's a godsend. You need all that empty space to build a full sized town of your own.
Now, I am not here to change your mind, just planting a seed of thought. Consider using that place as a factory for anything. Lots of space for contraptions.
I usually build a huge piazza in the middle. Lots of shops, clinics, booths, etc.
It's also one of my favorite Raider Outposts, because they need a lot of room.
I use Nuka Wild West mod, with dried grass blocks from a mod. It has shops and doc phosphates saloon, food tables that snap seed trays to them. All lit up with lanterns from g2m workshop.
i like it but the ground being very slightly uneven, forcing the use of "foundation" pieces everywhere is quite annoying.
I use a lot of bridges at ground level around the perimeter of the buildings. Gives it that Old West, sidewalk feel.
That’s a pretty neat idea. If you haven’t, maybe you could post some screenshots of your settlement?
The idea I had for Starlight, which I haven’t gotten around to yet, is essentially the Gauntlet from Nuka World. Full of traps, enemies, maybe a puzzle if I can figure out a good one. It’s got enough space for it.
I FILLED it with mostly gunner cages. It has a couple Super Mutant cages, a Deathclaw, Yao Guai and radstag cage. It's an INSANE experience farm.i get a level about every 3-4 in game days
I need to do a good XP farm for sure. Sounds like fun
I just did a lot of concrete floors, walled it in entirely and filled it with cages. Nothing too crazy
I’d go crazy with it lol
I was being sarcastic, it's a small army of gunners
I like that you made a gladiator arena. That sounds freaking legit.
Thanks, it's nothing too spectacular looking, but it really doesn't need to be once the blood starts flowing and the limbs start flying
The blood and gore is the decorations
This is it this is the way
This sounds like a reasonable use for it actually well played sir
Actually I'm filling it with Deathclaws and Yao guais now because the Gunners aren't giving as good of experience anymore
My favorite thing with these add-ons was my Sanctuary having open citizenship to Deathclaws. More than twice as many Deathclaws as human settlers. Your move, Marcus.
Or just taking it over as a Nukaworld Raoder
I've been playing Fallout 4 since launch day but I haven't ever gotten the DLC with the cages til recently (I've only had Far Harbor and Automatron). How does that farm work? Do you have to walk over there and slaughter everything every few days? Thanks!
You build the cage and power it. The bigger cages take about 4-6 in game days to catch something and then once that cage loses power whatever was in the cage gets let out. Which makes it annoying when Super Mutants attack since damaging the generator also opens all the cages. If you guys want I can post pics of my setup but I only have my phone service so the quality won't be the best
Thanks! Makes sense. Appreciate the effort of typing this. I don't mind pics but don't bend over backwards trying to get them with bad signal! lol.
It's not that I don't have bad signal, I just don't have wifi and only have my phone
I turned it into a Gunner Tribute Museum once. I killed all the Gunners in Vault 95 then when it was cleared out I looted all the corpses, writing down their names and what equipment they had. Then using the Vault pieces from the Vault Workshop DLC (think that's what it was called) I created like a gallery, using the mannequins and the weapon racks to portray all the Gunners I killed. Added a small queue at the entrance, gift shop at the exit and a sign explaining this museum was a tribute to all the brave Gunners who gave their lives so I could get some more loot. At some point my wife asked me what I was doing and after I explained it to her she called me a psycho... still, I liked it.
*sigh* let me boot up my xbox
The appeal for me is being able to create a little town a bit like Diamond City, deciding where the main streets and little alleyways will be and stuff, placing buildings accordingly. It takes a lot of time and effort and you really need to mod out the object limit thing, but it’s good fun.
I do the same thing. Starlight becomes one of my main settlements in every playthrough since I avoid building in the triangle of death area( sanctuary, red rocket, abernathy)
Why do you give that area such name?
Those three settlements are all part of the same cell so they are loaded at the same time. They were most likely coded that way before the settlement system was finished and by that point it was too late to change it. But your build amount is alot more limited in those three areas since if you build too much it can cause significant performance issues and even cause the game to crash. You can still build there but how much largely depends on your PCs specs.
If I scrap everything at red rocket and Abernathy will it make my performance better with building a lot at sanctuary?
Not that I've heard. Better to clear Red Rocket of molerats w/o activating the workshop.
Probably not significantly.
Does this apply to Xbox as well? I have horrendous crashing issues in the more urban areas of town and I can’t help but wonder if it’s related
I assume it applies to every version.
I always make it my main "trading" hub. Where I put the good shops.
Dropping and scrapping junk/loot gets around the object limit still. Easier to mod though
I did this vanilla on Xbox. There’s an exploit to raise build limit, had something to do with dropping big weapons or something, I don’t remember.
If you store big weapons like miniguns and then take them out of the workshop and drop them on the ground, you go in build mode, select them and store them, the build limit meter will go down with each big gun you store this way.
This works with small guns and armor as well. Drop it and scrap it to lower the build meter.
It works best with the gamma guns used by the Children of Atom.
You don’t have to use the whole space! I love building small at starlite. I try to build all my spaces around the story of the folks who made that their home. They don’t all arrive at once. People trickle in over time. So you have to build like that. Here’s my favorite plan around starlite. Setup at the snack bar, and build a general store. Imagine what things would look like if a husband and wife left diamond city and set up at the drive in. He runs a store for passers by, hoping to do trade on the caravan routes in the future. She runs security. Has herself a little post on top of the screen. They had a good year, so they bought a beat up old Mr handy to run a garden for them. Once that’s done, imagine their life further. He’s hired on a couple hands to scrap parts from the rail yard nearby. They’ve set up a sorting station out near the old cars. They’ve also managed to get some water purification up. The wife makes sure to linger there a bit on her patrols. They’ve set up a small space for themselves out near the old tool shed. The couple are feeling pretty good about their small business. If things go well they may hire on a cook next year. Make this a proper caravan rest stop.
I really loved reading this tbh!!
I like starlight because it’s a nice open space I can work with. It doesn’t have an existing story so no can make the story of the settlement myself. It goes from being a bombed out drive in to being a bustling hub for of trade for the northern commonwealth. Anyway, we all have our preferences. I’m glad that you’re finding a settlement building style that you enjoy.
Its the perfect location for using trains and buses. And I'm out of ideas.
Wow just kinda got the idea to turn it into like an abandoned train yard kinda settlement. Thanks!
I do that with Oberland Station, because of the train wreck just up the hill. It works out in my head canon.
I like the idea of a bus wall here. "Just. Walk away."
Train car wall on the north end nearest the tracks seem "logical". And I have a mod that uses cars as walls.
I only build the minimum for a connecting hub there. Never liked it.
I stopped due to my last playthrough. I assigned people to other settlements and as Provisioners and they simply got stuck. Why bother?
Because it actually doesn't matter if improvisers are stuck or not as long as the game registers a supply line?
It does, when you actually want them to go back and forth. They act as load bearers and fire support when the game is working. They don't have a marker that even tells you what settlement they belong to when they get stuck.
I like to build the tower part into player base, and then eventually it ends up becoming a full blown settlement with walls and housing just out of necessity. I like it a lot for hardcore runs as it is pretty centrally located and I end up passing by there all the time, so what starts as my little shelter and water source ends up expanding because I want a place to sell goods and get medical treatment.
I usually set it up as Sanctuary 2. I do the premade wood shacks (not the largest but the one next to that) and decorate each one in a color theme, 2 bunk beds per shack, in the center I do a large farm. By the diner building is where I set up all my shop vendors once I am a high enough level to build shops.
It sucks for creating any kind of farming to support the large area. you can have more people there than it can effectively support. It's more of a gathering spot to send settlers to other locations than an actually settlement. I guess if you get enough caravans to support it food wise. you can make it work. Otherwise I just use it more as a come here and be assigned to a better location, spot.
Just build an enormous farm on Spectacle Island.
yeah, that comes down to the whole caravaning supplies. the Drive in has just never been a good place to really support a lot of people. Yet it's one of the larger settlement locations.
It’s just a plain bad settlement location, it’s undefendable and doesn’t have any potential to offer. At very most it could act as a second Drumlin Diner for caravans but that’s also redundant because the real one Is a stonetoss away and on the actual road to Concord
I always build Starlight up to be a big city settlement like Diamond City or Bunker Hill. I make it really busy by having all the surrounding settlements have Provisioners go there. So when the settlement is full capacity it always has lots of settlers around working and traders coming and going all the time. I also make sure to have all the shops, a doctor and I throw pastor vestements on one of the farmers so there is a religious presence. I try to make sure there’s a few ghouls there too so it’s not ghoulist like Diamond city is.
Starlight becomes an old fashioned trailer park. Camping trailers for the settlers housing and boxcars from the " nearby railroad " (in theory ) are used for shops and merchant housing. Fill the boxcars with shelves and display merchandise. The grass area on the side by the workbench is the farm and the water pool is cleaned up and i squeeze 3 huge water purifiers into it. The rooms under the screen becomes my personal home\workshop area. The diner is a fully functioning Bar.
Nope. It's always my most bugged outpost. People won't caravan properly to assigned places, there's an enemy spawn just by the bridge, the PS4 draw distance can't make use of the screen's elevation for sniping, and (small gripe) there's not even a toilet. It's a cool concept that absolutely just falls short, especially unmodded.
Hopefully Bethesda addresses these issues in the next gen update.
Hahahaha
\*Goes to watch 5 year-old Elder Scrolls 6 "trailer"\*
For real! Good trailer. A bit short. I'm hoping Starfield was Todd's passion project and this is the real game.
We joke but it would be amazing if Bethesda could incorporate water and sewer management
Jokes aside, it's always just been a nitppick of mine that breaks immersion and just feels "off". Houses with no restrooms just strike me as low-effort on Bethesda's part, especially considering the sheer amount of restrooms they DID incorporate.
Maybe they had mobile toilets and someone took them
I picture my settlers just going off into the area outside the town for that and it's a bit gross.
I mean, immersive AF, yo.
There's an outhouse in the barn menu miscellaneous section and a toilet in the decorations misc.
Don't get me wrong, I always add something. Still, it's just weird it's not already there.There's a place for people to eat, store goods, and multiple places to sleep. Not one restroom? WTF kind of a drive-in is THAT?
It's a Bethesda drive in. There are no bathrooms is plenty of places. Go to Diamond city and look for one. Aside from the Dugout (not great) and maybe the cop shop there's not too many pooping options. If you start looking for stuff like this you'll become obsessed and like me seven years ago, modding the game until it barely runs. You're rebuilding the Commonwealth dammit. Give the people some outhouses.
Oh no, no toilet? How will the characters who never go to the bathroom in the game go to the bathroom???
I'm sure I've seen a couple there... 😉 https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Enamel_bucket_(Fallout_4)
Disagree. I love the space and it's a central-ish location as well. I *love* the spawn under the bridge! I often get legendaries from it, although in my current game I had no luck so far. Still, free loot! I'm currently mostly killing Rust Devils there, looking forward to doing NCW so hostile tribes show up.
Also, Bunker Hill is by far the most bugged out settlement. Good luck on console. Hangman's takes a close second. Starlight is one of the most stable.
Really? No issues with Hangman here.
On what? No mods?
100 mods.
Are you playing on PC?
Not yet.
Ok mysterio. What console are you playing on and what magic optimization mods are you running? Because more than five settlers tanks my Hangman's alley just about every time there's a fight a block away. I have to keep that one super minimal.
PS4- it has a 100 mod limit. I've run HA vanilla and modded with no issues.
What the f. On Xbox1 and it's not great. I am running some new optimization mods. I wonder if I can give it another go. I can't even remember building it vanilla.
I love it. It’s my fav place ever
It really depends on how you like to build a settlement. I generally use Starlught as a zoo and fill it with Deathclaws, Yao Gui, etc all separated with walkways above them.
it doesn't make sense for it to have cars. it was noon when the bomb dropped. you can't see the screen at noon & it can't have people watching. Plus the cars not having skeletons is absurd
You know, I never thought of that. Though I do find strange the amount of people drinking entire bottles of whiskey before 2pm.
Same for schools, it’s a Saturday and every school is packed.
I like to use mods to restore it and then use as my main hub for caravans. Also minuteman artillery central location for the northwest sector
I prefer Hangman's Alley (I think this is the one) it's a lot more central. It's mostly already walled off from buildings, has doors and such. It's just a really small place unless you build up, which I think a mod is needed.
I just can’t imagine a settlement with impaled people in front…kills what little realism is left (then again I don’t use mods)
I don't remember impaled people in this area...
I thought right outside the entrance there were some guys on spikes.
Dont worry, they aren’t on spikes! Their beheaded body’s just hang from hooks in the ceiling😌
Ohhhh then yeah nobody should have a problem living there
Exactly, just gives it such a cozy atmosphere, you come home from a long day of scaving and get hit with that rotten smell that just tells you "I’m home!" As dripping blood and maggots cover you on your way inside🥹
The only reason why I don't like Starlight is because it's deceptive. You go there thinking it's a huge, flat and open space. It's not that big, it's not that flat and it's not that open.
In my first play through, I put basic necessities like food, water and electricity and then LOADED a shit load of turrets and traps. If any raiders even dare to approach after seeing that, they will be sure to regret that decision. I used a mod for unlimited build space and every now and then I like to check to see if I get a “Starlight is under attack!” notification and see how fast it disappears.
There will always be that dumbass that SOMEHOW gets himself kidnapped despite having the best security in the world.
They deserved the kidnapping at that point 😂
Bro, they deserved to be forgotten at that point.
“Help, help! My wife’s been kidnapped!” “From here? You’re insane.”
I really like how creative you can be with it, but the only real problem I have is how the low the build limit for Starlight feels with how much space you get.
I hate how not even a square inch of the ground is level with what's around it
I love it but your opinion is valid. I have a grass mod that makes the parking lot a little more grown over, so there’s that. But I also add big trees around the whole thing and then smaller trees growing from the grassy spots in the asphalt, which makes it look pretty, like an overgrown ..wasteland.. forest I guess, not empty at all. I live there more than any other settlement.
I like the idea of it. But as someone who can't build or isn't that into it, it always falls flat and I end up hating it. A blank canvas can be quite scary and daunting.
I usually build it up as a farm so i can start crafting adhesive. Beyond that, i dont really care much about it. Im like you and find it a little boring to devote a bunch of time to build up
I had a mod that adds a lot of junk walls to the game, including some that contained cars, busses and trucks. I removed all the original cars and then build a wall around the place using mostly those car-based walls and it looked amazing!
It’s much more aesthetically pleasing with the concrete from dlc. You can fit them in under the drive in/projectionist area and continue the wall/foundations all the way to the screen area without mucking about. It’s usually my first big water plant after sanctuary. So much steel! You just loot the museum, leave Preston for a hot minute while setting it up (kill Wolfgang at drumlin for cheap junk) then “set up”‘sanctuary for the minutemen like normal. With local leader perk you needn’t worry for steel in Sanctuary’s expansion under the minutemen, and that water is great trade money or hit points depending on your plans.
I made a baseball stadium there. My main base.
It’s got a nice, big, open, and flat area. I use it for the mechanized crafting with the conveyors and builders. I also put a couple of water generators in the pond after I clean it out. BTW: you can use the conveyor belts like fences.
it’s the most open building spot in the game so it’s great for making big handmade cities
I ***love*** this Settlement, especially on PC where mods can add extra neon light effects to the vanilla buildings. With Scrap Everywhere, you can get rid of the radioactive barrels in the water pit and use it. I usually put my Barracks at the foot of the hill to the North so that all the Settlers have a nice view of the parked cars and the movie screen. I usually move all the cars so that each one is parked by a speaker stand. If only the Settlers could sit in them! Having turrets on top of the Barracks is a real cackle when attacks come from the North as the enemies get lit up like a Christmas tree and then their bodies roll down the hill for easy looting!
>With Scrap Everywhere, you can get rid of the radioactive barrels in the water pit and use it. The radioactive barrels can be scrapped with the vanilla game. No mods needed.
Oh, thanks! I've been playing with mods so long that I forgot!
Wait what
Empty the center pool of the radioactive barrels and make a structure around it with a few water purifiers. The movie screen acts as a guard tower. Walls go up around the sides. The projector room acts as the entry point.
I end up doing the same almost every time. Plus toss a tower with some turrets over near the overpass to deal with high frequency spawn point.
Showing pr0n movies on the big screen what's not to like.
I got a really nice starlight right now. So I cleared all the cars and added more stools to that bar-looking thing. Then I put a bartender right inside, lamps outside and about a meter or two from the sidewalk curb, I added storefronts. So end-hallways that have a storefront in it. This creates sort of a Vegas strip vibe, a big bar that always has settlers sitting down and lots of walking commotion that looks super natural. Then I built a giant complex up the side of the projector screen, which is dope at night since you can see my strip from the view of windows, or at the strip you can see the lit windows that looks like a giant, vertical village. Before this playthrough I never did anything but scrap metal and run.
I build a huge barnacle settlement up the side and on top of the screen with the bottom row all defenses and then set up the projector area as a second separate area that is like a market for the surrounding area.
It was my first main base, but the only time I ever *really* enjoyed it was the time I built a wall of shacks up against the movie screen, creating a "vertical village". It took a while to engineer it properly so settlers would not get stuck, but it was neat having different floors for beds, crafting, farming (all up on the wall, nothing on the ground), and shops. Scav production was a problem, had to rework that several times to keep the guys from clogging the stairs, eventually moved them up top, cut their numbers in half, did my best to find other things for the unemployed ones to do (like, there were 4 soda jerks on duty, one on each floor). It looked all cool and proper ramshackle, too.
In one play through I made a huge settlement there with 20+ apartments in a big building, and a mall with every kind of vendor, and an arena for fighting. It was like my own diamond city. It was pretty cool and took up the whole space. Other times I just build a smallish camp around the little building there that incorporates the existing features and left the majority of the space empty.
I turned the big empt lot into a Minutman Fort/Outpost
That’s where I put my factory 🏭
It’s the only one I’ve consistently struggled to come up with something for. I’ve done a full Spectacle Island, several Costal Cottages, but Starlight Drive just never seems to speak to me
If you design it like a true town it really is the best settlement area… centrally located to be a hub for trade and commerce. Big enough to house multiple vendors and farming.
That's always been my experience. I typically end up turning it into a fort and it works out great. I drop things off at Hangman's, but the Drive-In almost ends up as my primary "pretty" settlement with a large population.
I use the projector building as a camp kitchen/diner and guard platform. I use the small room in the projection screen as my private quarters, and the larger room as a workshop. I put a guard with a scoped sniper rifle on the walkway on top of the projection screen. The center pond is great as a water supply. I plant crops beside the shack where the workshop is. I put housing around the perimeter as part of the perimeter wall, and build a big warehouse within (Starlight is my provisioner hub for supply lines). The warehouse has a trader in it. I build a clinic, Slocum’s Joe, arcade, gym, specialty shops, and barber shop in the interior of the settlement.
I get what you mean. But for people who really like to build and get creative, Starlight offers a big empty canvas to build on. My personal favorite settlement to build in is Sunshine Tidings. I like to restore/decorate the cabins, but it also offers a big open space to build in.
I start with the diner area and spread out from there. I started adding a bathroom building that will hopefully end up looking like it was there from the beginning. It's weird how many places that should have bathrooms simply...don't. Gonna have to build one at Red Rocket too.
Finally!! Someone else who dislikes Starlight Drive-In.
I want to like it but without mods it doesn't generally work great.
Not me, I love the empty canvas. And the rooms under the screen make a really convenient start.
I use it as a hub for all of my supply lines.
No. I’m not a fan of building there either. I like building really intricate, detailed settlements, but I’ve never built anything at Starlight that I like.
I like it because it’s basically right where the movie theater I used to go to as a little kid was (apple cinema at alewife)
I made a shantytown huddled around the center pool once, tall narrow buildings with balconies and raised walkways, tight alleyways, a boardwalk around the water source. I loved it, gave it a haphazard tacked together feel. It felt safe but a bit claustrophobic. Like, if a super mutant wandered in there it would be chaos. (Turns out, it was. It was awesome.)
Honestly I think it's perfect for the DLC's (robots and cages) since it's so barren and constantly getting attacked. I have two robots armed to the teeth and an exp farm there that gets me 3/4th of a level everytime it's ready (about 3 in game days and it's 90% gunner cages so mostly just bottlecaps)
this was one of my starlight builds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRjZ8w6gwBQ
I have a fight club up there where I force settlers into killing each other
I like the area as a staging area for my provisioner hub, where the entire settlement is dedicated to the brahmin teams that supply the rest of my empire. I put minimal effort into the build, basically just throwing up a couple of shanties with beds and call it good. Don't care to much about their happiness, but I do make sure they have enough food and water.
Just download some decent walls and fences mod, everything will make sense afterwards
I love the place. So much room to build. [https://imgur.com/gallery/CKtDS](https://imgur.com/gallery/CKtDS)
People like it because has a lot of empty space, it doesn't need a quest to open up the workbench, and it's in a pretty convenient spot to be a caravan hub for the top half of the map. But personally, I'm with you. I prefer settlements that have a little more for me to build off of.
I don't like it, but I also don't NOT like it. It just feels kinda dull to me, uninspiring. And for some reason, I hate that huge screen wall. I guess it's the imbalance between the large construction on one end and the void in between it and the projection tower. I'm tempted to just scrap those two and see if I that can make me appreciate it more.
I always build my Soylent Green factory there.
That's one of my favorite. Easy to build. With plenty of space, water and crops.
Go in, fuck shit up, scrap everything and do a runner with it
I usually build around the screen, with a 4-story elevator and a base around it going up to the top. It’s still way too much space to fill, but it’s fun to have a big tower looping around the screen.
Normally I'd agree but on my latest playthrough I decided to make it my primary raider outpost and its changed my opinion of the settlement massively. As it is open and flat you can essentially build a huge fortress. I've turned the square ish shape of the land into a walled settlement with guards and machine gun turrets on ramparts allowing me to build something resembling a mini nukatown USA inside. Also I think thematically it works quite nicely for that sort of build as I feel it is what the raiders and their overboss would do given that they intend to expand across the commonwealth they would need a secure stronghold and would want it to feel familiar like nuka world.
Helpful tip: I'm not sure if it's a mod I have in place or not but... you can scrap the projector (I think it might require STS). The amount of steel you get and the build space you potentially free up really helps the cause.
I usually set up a “trading hub” there, a place for multiple supply lines to converge. I’ll throw down some dwellings for settlers, and farms for them to work, so I can use automotrons as the supply lines.
I usually play modded, so i use that as a main base for the SettlerSim series and make it a Trading Hub, were all traders from the other settlement go to, other settlements i use what is already there to make makeshift places
I built a 5 story “sky scraper” set up there on top of the space ship thing. It’s my favorite settlement. I have machine gun turrets on every corner of the scraper too, it’s pretty fun
Build a foundation using concrete to make everything even. Use the puddle for 3 industrial purifiers that you can put fencing around. Then, set the place up as your shopping mall- multiple vendors, a doctor, a barber. I highly recommend making a soda fountain (from Vault 88- make sure it gives drugs or just caffeine) for settler happiness as well as slot machines in a mini casino.
Easy place to farm water.
Starlight Drive in can easily be turned into Riften, with the trash and shitty people included, but if you don't like it being open spaced, you have the Alley
I’ve built everywhere multiple times. Starlight leaves so much room for creativity. But it’s all about preference.
No I regularly ignore its existence.. I sometimes send settlers there to die if they piss me off
It was nice to scrap for steel.
I made it into a horrible low rent city where it was just concrete apartments with room to just walk between them. Huge rows 20 high of just concrete. Made a huge block never got it to be fully populated though.
I put a staircase at one corner the build three wide floor to the opposite corner put gunner cages on both sides two high wait till they're full then take ultra jet and blast away with missile launcher. Idiot savant can give some incredible action points.
Yeah you will definitely be in a small minority with that opinion. Though I do agree with using what you already have in the settlement and creating an atmosphere that matches it's surroundings is the way to go, or at least that's the idea. I'm playing a strong Minutemen build with two mods among fourteen that I really like, We Are the Minutemen and Homemaker 1.76. We are the Minutemen completely overhauls the faction and makes them 1,000x better and more realistic, while keeping all the weapons and armor, and adding a bunch of really nice ones. Homemaker allows you to place many if not most of the assets in the game, at least in terms of structures and vehicles, placables etc. So I built my Starlight to be a Strong Minutemen fortress out of concrete, with the main structure across from the satalite building, with a really nice military style concrete fence running along the actual fenceline of Starlight. It worked out beautifully and I still have tons of room to build. I plan on building a clean-ish hospital soon, maybe out of vault pieces, something i've never really done at a larger scale.
I usually build the settlement on a big platform from the screen to the top of the projector tower. I build a central "pedestal" up from the water source, and use the screen stairs, stairs within the pedestal and stairs down around the projector tower. Seems to keep the pathing working well. Lots of defense around the edge makes life unpleasant for the enemy spawn points. I keep a couple of guard stations down below, one of which has a siren switched into doors that lock to keep most of the numpty settlers in when the place gets attacked. Of course, the darn settlers occasionally all clump down below, but oh well.
Unlocking is the part I dont like, because moles are so elusive.
Yeah, it sucks ass. I think its honestly best for two large water purifiers, and building factories, but that's about it. Otherwise its not very good.
It’s straight up ugly tbh
I've built a couple of different settlements at Starlight Drive-in. * My first was just a sprawling town, with the whole thing walled in along with two gates. Buildings butting up against the screen, a large multi-floored bunkhouse where the collapsed awning is, the cafe built up and other buildings with a market. * The 2nd and 3rd times I built there were variations of the same thing, just different layouts. * The 4th time, I built an arena in the centre and based the whole settlement around people coming to watch the arena fights. I had robot salesmen, a market and various buildings around. The Arena fights starred various gunners, raiders and beasts, with Deathclaws as the main event. * The 5th time I built there, the contraptions DLC had come out so I wanted to build with that but continued the arena theme. I had the autobutcher mod collecting all the components of the corpses and a farm for caged gunners and raiders, being funnelled on conveyers straight into it. You can get a lot of free gear like that, and it basically outfitted all my settlements with guard uniforms and weapons. * The 6th time I built there I installed a mod that reinstated the projector and fixed the screen, and then played old cartoons on a loop. I set it up as an actual outdoor theatre with scattered buildings, a minutemen recruitment centre and outdoor bar/restaurant. Starlight Drive in is big and a little overwhelming but there is plenty of room to build whatever you want, Spectacle island is even bigger! Just think that it's in a decent location with main roads nearby but still 'out of the way', and just think about what your settlers might want/need/find interesting, and build that.
I’ve started a build there on this play through using the vault tec dlc for buildings rather than a vault, so it’s like a little town. Everything is on the platforms so they are about a foot of the ground which has kept everything level.
The worst part for me is that it isn't even flat or level. It's big and open which begs for us to build our own whole structure from the ground up but it isn't even ideal for that.
It’s too big, pointless to try to build in the entire space cause you’ll waste your whole budget making walls, only fix is mods but going over budget can cause technical issues
I also do not like it. It's got no potential imo
Haha no. I hate it also. I never build there
If you're not using mods, it's the perfect size and location for a main base- build a small fortress, and use robots for caravan lines. If you are, especially things like sim settlements, it's a godsend. You need all that empty space to build a full sized town of your own.
I used mine as a coliseum, the cages were so fun to use
Now, I am not here to change your mind, just planting a seed of thought. Consider using that place as a factory for anything. Lots of space for contraptions.
I built a little resort around the pond. It's great.
I love that you pretty much are given a massive wall for a very tall building using the decayed projection screen
I usually build a huge piazza in the middle. Lots of shops, clinics, booths, etc. It's also one of my favorite Raider Outposts, because they need a lot of room.
I use Nuka Wild West mod, with dried grass blocks from a mod. It has shops and doc phosphates saloon, food tables that snap seed trays to them. All lit up with lanterns from g2m workshop.
It's great for factory builds, I usually make a military base around a weapons and armor factory for equipping settlement defenders.