Fallout 4

[fragger]

mandru, for bringing down the build limit meter quickly, I found the following technique very useful - and you won't have to move away from the settlement, or even the Workbench:

First though, there's some prep (the technique itself is below). You'll need to collect some weapons (for some reason, weapons seem to empty the meter faster than junk items when they're scrapped or stored). I like to get five each of two weapon types. The most commonly-found weapons appear to be the basic Pipe Pistol and the basic 10mm Pistol, so I get five of each of those (they are also light-weight and thus don't impact my carrying capacity too much).

It doesn't really matter what, nor how many, weapons you collect though, as long as there are no more than five of any one weapon. You can use two lots of weapons, three, or as many as you like - or you can even use a whole pile of different weapons, just as long as there are no more than five of any one weapon.

(The reason I collect no more than ten weapons is simply because you'll be dropping them all, and if you have more than ten, they're going to fall all over the place and this "time-saving" trick will become less so).

Why no more than five of any one weapon? Because, as you know, when you drop six or more of something from your inventory, usually just one single object will hit the ground (even though that one object will actually encompass all six or more of whatever it is) and this technique is dependent on the number of individual items. I like to use five of each of two weapon types simply because it's quick and easy to locate them in my inventory. For expediency's sake, it's also best to do this close to the Workbench, if you can (you'll see why shortly).


So, the technique:

Drop all of the weapons you collected on the ground. Then enter Workshop mode, but instead of scrapping the weapons, hit TAB on each one to store it in the Workbench instead. The game will ask for confirmation to store the weapon (just as it does when scrapping). Select "yes" and the weapon will go into the Workbench. Once all the weapons have been stored, exit Workshop mode, then immediately engage with the Workbench to bring up the "Transfer" interface. You'll see that all the weapons you stored are now in the Workbench - simply transfer them back into your inventory. Then exit the transfer screen. The weapons will now be ready to be dropped from your inventory and stored all over again. Repeat the procedure as many times as you need to.

This is why it's best to do this close to the Workbench, because each time you repeat the procedure you'll need to transfer the guns from the Workbench back to your inventory, which means bringing up the Workbench's Transfer screen.

Quick summary for clarity's sake:

- Drop weapons from inventory
- Enter Workshop mode, then hit TAB on each weapon to store it in the Workbench
- Transfer weapons from Workbench back into inventory
- Rinse and repeat.

Using this technique, you'll see the meter empty quite quickly (you can actually see it go down a bit with every "store" action), and because you're using the same bunch of weapons over and over, you don't need to go scrounging for more stuff. Also, you can leave the weapons in the Workbench when you're done, so if you need to bring the meter down again later, the weapons will be waiting for you in the Workbench.

(And once you've brought down the build limit sufficiently, you can take the weapons from the Workbench and lug them to any other settlements where you need to bring down the build limit meter. This is why I like to use five Pipe Pistols and five 10mm Pistols - they're light and easily portable).

Repeating the procedure a dozen times or so will make a very substantial hole in the build limit meter very quickly

[Art Blade]

that's a neat trick, fragger +1

[Dweller_Benthos]

I did this a few times, using my high level weapons that are "worth more" in the game's weird economy system. For instance, my fully upgraded legendary explosive minigun would reduce the build limit quite a lot just by itself. Same goes for my other legendary weapons, just be absolutely sure to use "store" and not "scrap" or you'll be sad.

There's also a limit to how much you can do this before the game becomes unplayable, I've even heard of people maxxing out the build limit this way and not being able to load the save game at all after that. Tread lightly.

[mandru]

What? 

Give up all that murder and mayhem I'm able to enjoy while collecting mass amounts of scrappables? 


Actually fragger that is an excellent tip that I was not aware of being possible.    +1


D_B I had wondered about using the copious number of Legendary weapons I've collected so this is good to know.

Have you added a mod that allows for scrap anything?  In my vanilla version of FO4 it is not possible for me to be able to scrap a Legendary item.  Neither weapon or Armor and I have to either store a legendary or once I am out of build mode add it back into my inventory.


Of course if I really hate the weapon type (insert baton, switchblade, or knuckle variant image here) I can leave leave it there in the dust and walk away. 

[Dweller_Benthos]

I don't think I have a scrap everything mod, though it's been a while so maybe. I was just pointing out that dropping your favorite high powered weapon on the ground and accidentally scrapping it would ruin your day. or make you load a save game, whatever. 

[Art Blade]

 

I think you do because someone who modded their game recommended that "scrap everything" mod to me. 

[BinnZ]

Well, I've never found a 'building limit' so far, but I'll keep these tricks in mind. Who knows I will find out later

[fragger]

It usually takes quite a lot of building to make the meter fill up. The build limit also varies between settlement sites - some have a larger limit than others. I've found that the ones that seem to fill up fastest are Sanctuary, Starlight Drive-In, Sunshine Tidings Co-op and The Castle. I tend to build a shipload of stuff at those sites though, which doesn't help

Cheers mandru

My current playthrough has been going for about the last 6 months (heh, every successive playthrough of mine has gotten longer - first 3 months, then 4, now 6 and counting) and being a compulsive grabber of junk while I'm out and about, I've built up an enormous material reserve in the Sanctuary Workbench (I don't grab every single little thing I see, but I do have a habit of snaffling things which yield useful materials, like Wonderglue, Duct Tape, Telephones, Microscopes, Typewriters, Oil Cans, etc). Since I prefer to scrap all my junk so that I can maintain a nice alphabetized and itemized list of materials and components in the WB, and since every scrap action does bring the build limit meter down a tiny bit, the build meter at Sanctuary was completely emptied long ago and has stayed that way ever since. It was the same story in all my previous 'thrus and it has never caused any problems.

Maybe emptying the meter by storing, rather than scrapping, has a detrimental effect on the game, I don't know. I have never completely emptied a meter using the weapon-storing technique, I've only ever brought it down to about half-way. Usually, just one application of this trick brings the limit down enough for me to reach by building goals for a settlement, so that I don't have to do it again.

[BinnZ]

I do mostly the same as you fragger. I keep scrapping the living daylight out of every load I bring from any next adventure. Firstly I ignored all the materials that contained stuff like plastic, cloth, acid, oil etc. until later having to find out they were actually going to be valuable at some point because my modding interest had changed
The most valuable material to me was first the screws. I kept running short on them. After a while, when I knew what items contain them (carrying truckloads of fans, typewriters, toy cars etc to the workbench) I started running out of adhesive. Until now that's probably the most valuable stuff I can think of, although fiber optics tend to become even more valuable. They seem to be even more rare than adhesive
And I wonder what to do with the tons of gold I've found until now. Does it actually become useful in any type of modding or building later on? If I could I would build a shed with a golden roof, just to show off

[Art Blade]

become a dentist or (less living from hand to mouth) a jeweller.

[mandru]

Gold seems to be used mostly in advanced energy weapon modifications.  I can't think of any other uses even drawing from all the build categories.  I've not played around with the chemistry workshops very much at all so there could possibly be something in there that uses it.

I guess the developers figured gold toilets and other matching bathroom fixtures were too outre. 

[Art Blade]

weaponised Nuka-Cola Quantum ammo needs gold, too

[fragger]

Agreed BinnZ, Fiber Optics are probably the rarest commodity in the game. Microscopes and Biometric Scanners are the best sources for that. Sometimes Alexis the Depot trader in Vault 81 has Fiber Optics Shipments for sale, as does the quartermaster Teagan aboard the Brotherhood of Steel's airship, the Prydwen, which may not have appeared in your game yet - it only appears (in a very cool fashion) when a certain point in the story is reached.

Aluminum is another material that I find I run short of as it is used a lot for Power Armor repairs and quite a few advanced weapon mods, so I also keep an eye out for anything containing it like TV Dinner Trays, Toy Rocketships, Surgical Trays, Aluminum Cans and a couple of other things that I can't think of right now.

Mahkra Fishpacking in the far NE has a great respawnable store of Aluminum in the form of over 80 trays that look like the standard Surgical Tray but only yield 1 Aluminum each, as opposed to 3 from a standard Surgical Tray (I think they're just called "Tray"). They are all on a conveyor belt at the bottom of the lowest level of the plant with additional stacks of them on shelves nearby. I'm pretty sure there are 81 of them in total, which when scrapped will provide a nice little hit of 81 Aluminum. There's another, smaller, respawning store of these same trays in the Four Leaf Fishpacking Plant near The Castle.

For Adhesive, I like to have my big settlements growing Tatos, Mutfruit and Corn. At a Cooking Station or Stove you can use these three foodstuffs, along with Purified Water, to make Vegetable Starch (under "Utilities"). Each Vegetable Starch can then be scrapped to yield 5 Adhesive. Recipe calls for 3 each of Corn, Mutfruit and Tato plus 1 Purified Water to make 1 Vegetable Starch. I usually wait until I've accumulated enough to make 20 Vegetable Starches, which can then be scrapped for 100 Adhesive.

For some reason though, if I have those three crops growing in a settlement, only the excess Corn and Mutfruit will accumulate in the Workbench, so I have to pick the Tatos myself (Abernathy Farm and Tenpines Bluff also grow Tatos which will accumulate in their Workbenches, so I make an occasional "Tato run" to those settlements). You will get Tato accumulating in a settlement's Workbench only if that is the only crop growing there - as soon as there is anything additional growing, Tatos don't seem to accumulate in the WB (apparently settlers gobble all the Tatos before anything else )

Food picked right off the plants will take a day or two to grow back, but it doesn't make any difference to the total amount of Food being produced. For a big settlement with around 20 people, I'll plant a dozen of each of those plants, which will yield enough food for 24 settlers (I like to cap my settlements at 20, otherwise they start to get a bit too crowded and unwieldy for my liking). As with Food, you also need to produce more water than there are settlers to get Purified Water accumulating in the Workbench.

You can always barter/sell excess WB materials if you want, as well as excess Food and Purified Water. I sometimes pull excess amounts of rarely-used stuff like Acid, Asbestos, Antiseptic, Bone, etc. out of the Workbench and sell them off. Asbestos brings a pretty fair price actually @ 6 Caps per unit. Each unit of Purified Water can be sold for 20 Caps. Food prices vary depending on what they are.

[Art Blade]

I think there's a perk influencing prices, like a barter perk or some such. I believe you can sell at higher and buy at lower prices with that perk.

[fragger]

That would be the Cap Collector Perk (under Charisma). Ranks 1 and 2 improve vendor buying/selling prices.

Every issue of the "Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor" magazine you collect will successively bring all vendor prices down by about 3% (8 magazines in total).

There are also Grape Mentats which when taken allow you to sell for 10% higher and buy for 10% lower (as well as boosting Charisma by 5). They don't last long after being taken though, about 5 or 10 game minutes or so, so you need to pop them right before dealing.

Grape Mentats are extremely rare but you can make them yourself at a Chemistry Station. Recipe is 2 x Hubflower, 1 x (regular) Mentats, and 1 x Whiskey.

In any event, there is a limit to how far Vendor prices can be reduced, so eventually one or more of the above methods stops having any effect, depending on which ones you get first (e.g. if you have the above Perk ranks and all "Junktown" magazines, Grape Mentats will no longer affect prices. They will still boost Charisma by 5 though, for as long as the effect lasts).