Post-apocalyptic SIMS

An archive for bugsie's settlement stuff - header by mauvaise-reputation and blog icon by needlesslycryptic.

[bugsiebuilds]

Warwick Homestead. Nate and Vince did a good job and are rather knackered from all the work.

[bugsiebuilds]

This was flagged along with a number of my settlement posts  - funny how it was mainly content that involved my LGBT OC’s though.

Can’t really see any female presenting nipples or anthing N/S/F/W at all.

Nice work @staff .

[jhaithulier]

~Home Plate

[kickerwrites-deactivated2018041]

partly inspired by my own recent adventures in real estate, partly by posts I’ve seen here discussing tangential issues, I’ve been thinking about the house in Sanctuary Hills.

on the face of it (literally the name) it’s the House of Tomorrow; it’s bright and shiny, it’s got all mod cons, not to mention that handy-dandy Vault just up the hill. it’s sometimes brought up as proof that Nate and Nora are hugely privileged for being able to afford such a fancy house; but it never really struck me as that luxurious.

a) the house itself isn’t that big; probably not much more than 70-75sq m which while only slightly below average for the UK is very small in comparison to the average US house (supposedly about 250sq m). it’s going to seem spacious to some - given my background I can attest to that - but it’s not exactly a sprawling McMansion.

b) the lack of foundations and modular structure of the houses on the estate suggest quickly, cheaply-built prefabs. the level of disrepair given the distance from the detonations and the almost pristine state of more fragile structures nearby (e.g. the trailers up by the vault) support that. and given the world we’re talking about, we can pretty much assume a lax approach to building regulations.

c) there’s almost no insulation to speak of, not that I’d expect the game to render that much detail in building materials. but those radiators we all scrap as soon as we get the workshop unlocked are tiny and often affixed to exterior walls, which given the lack of insulation would make them significantly less efficient. Sole ‘n’ Spouse may be chilling at home in short sleeves in October but when a nor'easter blows in I’m willing to bet they’d be wrapped in blankets and hugging Codsworth for warmth.

d) it’s not so hot location-wise either. this is a tiny and isolated estate of small houses about as far from the city as you can get. close to a Vault, yes, but not far from such delights as the robotics dumping ground, plus the quarry at Thicket Excavations that must have had plenty of heavy goods vehicles thundering down the roads nearby. there’s no medical facility, no school, no police station; in fact there’s not a single community-oriented building. anything like that would necessitate a trip into Concord, or further afield.

e) and on that note, the Red Rocket might well sell frozen TV dinners and maybe some individually shrink-wrapped vegetables but it’s probably a trip all the way to the Super-Duper-Mart to get… well, more frozen TV dinners, but a larger variety of them at least. might be stretching it to say it’s a food desert but it’s definitely not convenient.

and f) is for finally: just because it looks good doesn’t mean it’s expensive or unnecessary. poor people don’t automatically neglect their possessions to the point of decay. assistive devices might be expensive but they can be lifesavers. that poor people can’t have nice things and that seeking convenience is a sign of indolence is a gross fallacy.

I’m probably a) missing some details b) overthinking and c) projecting wildly due to my own background but it’s my blog, I can do what I want.

any thoughts? is your Sole slumming it in Sanctuary Hills or is it the nicest place they’ve ever seen? or do you sidestep the whole thing and have them live somewhere else entirely? I’m aware that as An English I’m not the authority on American real estate so I’d be interested to hear some other perspectives.

[ronqueesha]

I also assumed that Sanctuary was a cheaply made and brand new community. I’d also say it was likely Vault-Tec footed the bill to turn the area into a residential area (The location is a park in real life, commemorating a part of the American Revolution. It would make sense that the Fallout universe would do something to smother it). The people who moved in would have to provide personal information to the patsy bank that would allow Vault-Tec to choose the perfect test subjects for their vault. 

Everything in Sanctuary looked brand new and shiny because it really was new and shiny. Freshly built and maintained by robots like Codsworth so people wouldn’t see the cracks forming in the veneer. Even if Vault-Tec wasn’t responsible for the inevitable doomsday (I don’t think they are, it was just a tragic inevitability) they knew that armageddon was inevitable, and they banked on it coming long before the Sanctuary residents noticed how bad their homes really were. 

I also headcanon that my sole survivor Nathan was extremely poor, so being offered this deal for a perfect suburbian life was too good to pass up. Several other veterans like him were also moved into the community, and they too were part of the vault program. It wasn’t exactly a military neighborhood, but it was darn close. And just full of juicy lab rats for Vault-Tec to exploit. 

[kickerwrites-deactivated2018041]

I’m 200% here for the Vault-Tec conspiracy theory tbh. market them as ‘affordable housing’, target veterans and/or young families, get both test subjects and a regular flow of income.

and that fatalistic view of ‘well the world’s not going to last that long so who even cares about the longevity of our building projects’ is a great addition. I mean… awful, but great. I grew up near a load of post-war prefabs that were built in a more hopeful ‘I’m sure we won’t need these for long!’ way but were still there 50 years later, leaking and disintegrating. really gives that an interesting twist.

[the-dubstep-strawberry]

The thing I find most interesting about Sanctuary Hills? Historical accuracy. Those types of houses actually existed. They were built in the late Forties/early Fifties by the Lustron Corporation as a solution to the post-WW2 housing boom, caused at least in part by returning GIs who needed homes for themselves and their families.

Lustron Corporation promotional material - note the metal accents near the porch, a unique feature of the homes which you can see in Fallout 4 too.

Lustron houses (the brainchild of entrepreneur Carl Strandlund) looked pretty much the same as the ones in Sanctuary Hills. They were prefabricated steel homes with enamel tile cladding, designed to withstand natural hazards like fire, lightning, rodent infestation, rust, decay, etc and were said to require very little (if any) painting or other maintenance.

A happy homeowner hosing down her low-maintenance Lustron Home (house color: Surf Blue).

Sources vary somewhat regarding price (I’ve seen them listed as starting at $6,000 to $8,000 toward the beginning of the construction period) but a two-bedroom, one-bathroom home like the one the Sole Survivor owned would probably have cost something in the region of $10,000 to $12,000 by 1950… although that price would no doubt have escalated quite considerably by 2077, in line with the insane levels of hyperinflation evident in Pre-War society.

Pre-War Sanctuary Hills - Sole Survivor’s house shown center.

The house colors we see in Sanctuary Hills are also accurate - the original Lustron homes came in Surf Blue, Maize Yellow, Dove Gray, and Desert Tan (some sources also say pink was available, although I haven’t seen any evidence to that effect). The metal roofs, pocket doors, tripartite windows and built-in shelves that you see in Sanctuary Hills were present in the originals too. Each house also had its own unique serial number on a metal plate in the laundry room, although sadly we don’t see any evidence of those in-game!

An example of the 2-bed Westchester Deluxe model, similar to the one the Sole Survivor and family would have lived in - the Westchester Deluxe was the only floor plan with a bay window in the living room.

A Lustron Home kit came in about 3,000 parts and was usually constructed on a concrete slab foundation, with methods that we can see in evidence in the West Everett Estates project in Fallout 4 - a stroll around the neighborhood (carefully avoiding the Super Mutant residents) shows that several of the homes were still under construction at the time the bombs dropped on the Commonwealth.

A Lustron house with parts laid out for display - some assembly required!

Unfortunately the Lustron Homes were a short-lived project, partly due to expense (construction costs were greater than those of traditional wood-frame houses), a large backlog in orders, and additional pressure from Congress and trade unions, and the Lustron Corporation only got to make the houses for a short period before it was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1950.

However, many of the houses built in the Midwest and East Coast still exist today, and some have even withstood hurricanes and other natural disasters…

This one was hit pretty heavily by extreme weather - it survived! (Just!)

… so it’s not too surprising that a few of them managed to hold out against the ravages of time and nuclear warfare either!

Not too bad for a community of prefabricated Pre-War homes. Sanctuary Hills might not have been a perfect Pre-War community, isolated as it was from the more immediate horrors of Boston, 2077 (food rationing, riots and martial law, not to mention military checkpoints, internment camps and other grim reminders that the country was anticipating nuclear war at any moment), but the houses themselves held up pretty well over the centuries. All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good investment on the part of Sole and their family.

(Vault-Tec, well, that’s another story. They probably should have asked Vault-Tec Guy about the money-back guarantee, or at least some sort of complaints policy.)

A video of an IRL Lustron House here for the curious, courtesy of the Ohio Historical Society:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwFonBxpDWs

[kickerwrites-deactivated2018041]

I’m just looking at that pic of the parts laid out thinking I WANT TO BUILD THE THING. I’ve got a couple of allen keys and a hammer, that’s got to be enough, right?

[happywastelanddesigner]

Happy Wasteland Designer Showcase is back!

 Designers! We are excited to announce we will be re-launching our settlement design showcase for the new year!

We will be featuring a particular settlement or design feature in order to highlight our community’s creativity and to show some love to some under-represented settlements (we’re looking at you Murkwater)!

*NEW* We are also adding a monthly non-settlement specific theme you can also submit works from, in case you’ve already built something you want to show off.

Showcase submissions and reblogs will be featured in the side bar and reachable by a special tag. They will also be automatically posted instead of queue’d (The queue is at least a week long at any given time)

Participate by tagging us @happywastelanddesigner, sending the post to @wastelandercamo or @percivalhastings, or by using the submit link at the top of the page!

Our current plan for showcases is as follows:

Current Showcase:

Pets and Creatures: Did your Sole Survivor build a little mansion for dogmeat? Is there a house in your settlement that’s sole purpose is to house cats? Or is there some other pet that has it’s own place in your settlement? We’d love to see it, so feel free to share with us!

OR

Nuka World Red Rocket

OR

Red Rocket Truck Stop

February - Winter Abodes

1st-12th Croup Manor

13th - 28th Valentine’s Home Plate: either make a cozy little love nest for your LI, or show our favorite Synth Detective some love by making him his own private oasis

March - Faction Bases

1st - 15th Echo Lake Lumber OR Murkwater Construction Site

16th - 31st  Oberland Station

April - Spring Fling: Gardens and Farms

1st - 15th Kingsport Lighthouse

16th - 30th Longfellow’s Cabin OR Warwick Homestead

May - Defensive Strategies

1st - 15th The Minutemen’s Castle

16th - 31st Tenpines Bluff

(Get it - May Day, they need help? ha. ha? oh well, it’s funny to me)

June - Family Housing and places for kids

1st - 15th Dalton Farm OR Abernathy Farm

16th - 30th Greygarden

July - Markets and Shops

1st - 15th Vault 88 OR Covenant

16th - 31st National Park Visitor’s Center OR Coastal Cottage

August - Dog Days of Summer: Pets and Creatures

1st - 15th NukaWorld Red Rocket OR Red Rocket Truck Stop

16th - 31st Hangman’s Alley

Past Showcases:

Croup Manor

Home Plate

Echo Lake Lumber & Murkwater Construction Site

Oberland Station

Longfellow’s Cabin & Warwick Homestead

Abernathy Farm & Dalton Farm

Graygarden

Vault 88 &  Covenant

National Park Visitor’s Center  &  Coastal Cottage

I hope you’re as excited as we are! Happy Designing and remember - Show us your WIPs!

Let us know if you have any suggestions, comments or concerns! We love to hear from you!

[theartofblossoming]

It’s getting there. Sorry there’s no voice-over but I’ve not worked out how to do that on PS4 to tablet yet.

[atombomb-bby]

Nighttime at The Slog.

[thetaleofsirthopas]

I’ve uploaded my very first mod to Nexus! Mid-Century Sanctuary Settlement!

I wanted to create the illusion of a viable town with its own unique look and culture for every settlement in the game. First up is Sanctuary and I decided to go with a mid-century modern look to it. As for its culture, this town is very much like its pre-war predecessor with its wholesome, middle class sensibilities. There are no fighting arenas or brothels or saloons here. Aside from the original Sanctuary houses, new buildings include: a mall, bank, church, fire station, hospital, hotel, newspaper office, park, police station, soda shop, sawmill, school, theatre, and hydro-electric plant. There should also be enough empty space by the hotel for caravans. Part of my goal to craft a “living community” is to give each settlement an export and I went with timber because of the abundance of trees and the direct access to the river that would allow millers to float logs downstream. In addition, most houses have small garden plots and three of them have barns in their backyards. For protection, I decided against completely encircling the town with a fence due to some trouble with enemies spawning on top of roofs without direct access. So, instead, I built a shit ton of turrets and figured the river would provide a natural barrier for most enemies (or, at least, the illusion of a barrier).

This mod uses the transfer settlements mod

[chibikinesis]

Gradually working on making The Castle feel more inviting :3

[nukalurk-queen]

[1/?] My Favorite Settlement Builds- Marsh’s House @ Finch Farm

Who said you need mods to build cool looking settlements?

So this is the (finally finished!) home of my 3rd Sole Survivor, perched on the edge of the Finch Farm overpass. I’m planning to build a whole town up here Arefu-style but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. The only other person living up here currently is Jake Finch, who I stationed at some nearby artillery because he was always in my loft knocking shit off my dinner table.

I’m pretty obsessed with using the warehouse window/roof pieces, especially when there is a view to be had. I also like putting lofts in my buildings for extra space and that ~open concept~ feel, even if I suck at putting roofs on multi-level buildings. So the roof could be nicer. And the boxcar/warehouse transitions could be a little cleaner. And maybe I had to rebuild the thing 3 or 4 times to get it to fit nicely within the space confines. And maybe I should have been looking for my son instead of spending a entire week scavenging for glass. So there were definitley a few frustrations, but regardless, it’s done, and it looks awesome. 

[trashofthewasteland]

Pryce “Yes I’m an Actual Adult So Why Are You Laughing at Me?”Jackon’s office.

Is he in Nuka World? No. Does he work for Nuka Cola? No. Does he just really like caps so much that he also loves cap themed items? Yep.

And yet he wonders why no one takes him serious as a mercenary. 

[trashofthewasteland]

In an attempt to do the right thing without actually doing anything herself, Victoria built (well really just paid for but shh) a fancy new clinic for Sanctuary. It’s nothing too fancy but its a space thats better than a dirty kitchen floor. 

A tiny little waiting wall and check in station for minor injuries to wait around for someone to help, a place to purchase any chems and medication so someone ultimately makes a profit, a small couch in the corner for those waiting on someone being checked on, a tiny tiny doctor’s “office”, and a few beds for those who need some more time to recover. It’s simple, it’s basic, and it’s going to make Victoria some money so hey everyone wins! Well besides those who die but they don’t count.

She was even thoughtful enough to give those smokers a place to sit and smoke if they wish to wait out there or just need a break from bedrest without also being major assholes towards anyone inside and recovering.

[theartofblossoming]

Pylon Top at Abernathy Farm.

I’m still working on the inside but it is a crazy tangle, working around the pylon and no-build areas.

[bugsiebuilds]

Fort MacGyver 

Formerly the guard post at Fort Strong, Mitch decided he needed a beach house, and one with a great view.

“Honestly Danse, this is perfect, buddy. And we got a great view of the Prydwen and even Dogmeat likes it don’t ya, boy?” ~ Mitch MacGyver, sole survivor.

“Bark, Bark.” ~ Dogmeat, most awesome dog in the Commonwealth.

[black-rose4]

I’ve made a few more improvements to Rachel’s house now and honestly I’m loving how horrible her kitchen is (Luke hates it). Also loving that I can add lots of little homely touches now <3

[atombomb-bby]

Progress photos of The Slog. I said I wasn’t going to work on any additional settlements but I couldn’t resist a farm full of ghouls ^^. Modded.

[mirelurk--cakes]

Welcome to Starlight City

[vault310-deactivated20190209]

Building