Among the biggest innovations of Fallout 4 undoubtedly includes the extensive crafting system. This not only lets you improve your weapons and armor, but also build entire settlements of your own. So the return of the Commonwealth to a civilized society is in your hands. The developers at Bethesda have created a fairly complex system, which is hardly explained by the game itself.
Crafting in Fallout 4 (buy now / €18.99 ) is, on the one hand, purely optional and can also be completely ignored. On the other hand, it represents a very large part of the game, with which no less players will probably spend countless hours playing. In this article we want to give you a rough overview of crafting. We give basic tips that you should keep in mind. We introduce the individual craft areas and go into the expansion of a settlement.
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General tips
You should think about whether you want to become a craftsman before you start the game. You can plan the development of your character accordingly. For the important perks that you need for the individual crafting departments, strength, intelligence and charisma are particularly important. For example, for the first level of the Pharmacist perk you need a total of seven points of Intelligence. However, you only need pharmacists to be able to produce the best drugs. Perks like recycler, weapon freak, science and blacksmith are more important. In the table below we have summarized all the perks that are essential for crafting and settlement building.
You unlock most of the blueprints using the perks mentioned above. However, some items can only be crafted after completing certain quests. Recipes can also be found in some magazines that you find in the game world. However, all the knowledge about complicated manufacturing processes is of little use if you don't have any materials for your building projects. Thanks to the crafting system, it's now more worthwhile than ever in Fallout 4 to search every corner and take everything that isn't nailed down. Important resources can be obtained from almost all scrap objects such as cans, toys, pre-war money, typewriters and so on.
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However, you don't have to carry all the clutter around with you. You store the materials in the workbenches of your settlement and the game automatically uses this supply as soon as you produce something. All workbenches within a settlement are connected to each other. As soon as you build caravans between your settlements, the workbenches of the connected settlements also share their inventory.
By the way: In your first settlement, Sanctuary, all of the workbenches are already there. You can find the weapon table, armor station, workshop and power armor station directly at the house opposite the protagonist's old house. The cooking station is at the entrance to the settlement near the bridge in front of a garage driveway. The laboratory station is hidden behind the second house on the left side as seen from the bridge. You can also use the build menu to move these two stations to the others to have all the crafting tables in one place.
Weapons workbench
Source: PC Games
The weapons workbench.
If you want to always be well prepared for impending dangers when fighting for survival in the wasteland, you should take care of your weapons. In Fallout 4 you can for the first time extensively tinker with your shooting irons and melee weapons. This means you can equip your favorite weapons with additional modifications such as different aiming devices, different magazines and other components. In this way, you get even more out of what might at first glance be an average ratchet. Important raw materials for working on your weapons are steel, screws, glue and, for higher-quality mods, aluminum. Springs, oil, rubber and plastic in your supply can't hurt either.
The visors are particularly unusual. For the aiming devices you need crystals, fiber optics and even nuclear material. For weapon builders, the Weapon Freak and Science perks are particularly important. The perks and materials you need also depend on the type of weapons you want to work on. While modifying laser weapons primarily requires higher ranks in science, with a minigun you can only get the top mods if you are a weapon freak. By the way: If you have built a mod and later replace it with a better one, the old mod is not lost. It ends up in your inventory and can be used on another weapon if necessary.